Classified Ventures LLC, Chicago, hired Diversified Investment Advisors as bundled service provider for its $32 million 401(k) plan, said Kirk Musselman, human resources director.
DIA replaces Putnam Investments. The plan has 32 investment options, including target-date funds.
An RFP was issued in May 2008. Sheridan Road Advisors assisted.
Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association, Denver, hired Newton Capital Management to run $750 million in active global equity, confirmed Katie Kaufmanis, spokeswoman for the $29.2 billion system.
Acadian Asset Management and Baillie Gifford were also hired as global equity managers, but Ms. Kaufmanis could not be reached by press time to provide further details.
Funding came from rebalancing the system's 49.1% global equity portfolio, Ms. Kaufmanis said in an e-mail response to questions.
Other managers in the fund's global equity portfolio are Baring Asset Management, BGI, Mondrian Investment Partners, Schroders Investment Management and Turner Investment Partners.
A shortlist search for global managers was started in April 2008; no RFP was issued. Ennis Knupp assisted.
Los Angeles Fire & Police Pension System committed $10 million each to Blue Wolf Capital Fund II and Inwest Investments' Drug Royalty II, according to an e-mail from Laura K. Guglielmo, assistant general manager for the $10.7 billion system.
Blue Wolf is a lower- to middle-market buyout fund focused on North American companies in distress or whose value is not being realized. The fund has a $250 million fundraising target.
Drug Royalty II, which focuses on pharmaceutical royalty interests, has a $500 million target.
StepStone, the system's private equity consultant, assisted on both commitments.
Separately, the board committed $50 million each to hedge fund managers GAM and Dorchester. PCA, the system's general investment consultant, assisted on the hedge fund commitments.
Maryland State Employees Credit Union, Linthicum, hired Diversified Investment Advisors as bundled provider for its $23 million 401(k) plan, said Roderic Flowers, vice president of human resources and organizational development. Diversified replaces Prudential.
The plan has 23 investment options, including target-date funds.
An RFP was issued in January 2008. Consultant Bolton Partners assisted.
MD Funds Management hired MFC Global Investment Management to subadvise the MD Dividend Fund, a balanced fund with about C$1 billion (US$837 million) in client assets.
Alan Wicks, senior portfolio manager and head of MFC Global's large-cap value equity team, and Terry Carr, managing director and head of Canadian fixed income, will be lead managers of the fund, said Jean-Francois Courville, president of MFC Global, in a telephone interview.
J. Craig Maddock, MD Funds' assistant vice president-investment management, said his firm selected MFC Global following the retirement of Stephen Gerring, portfolio manager with CIBC Global Asset Management, who had overseen the fund for more than a decade.
MFC Global will oversee about 95% of the MD Dividend Fund portfolio, with another subadviser looking after the remaining 5%, he said.
Nationwide Mutual Funds hired Federated Investors to subadvise three Nationwide money-market futures funds with combined assets of about $5.6 billion, according to a news release from Federated.
Federated will subadvise the Nationwide Money Market Fund, the NVIT Money Market Fund and the NVIT Money Market Fund II.
Nationwide spokeswoman Erica Lewis wasn't immediately available for comment.
New York State Common Retirement Fund in March closed nine transactions totaling about $181 million, according to a report by state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, the $122 billion plan's sole trustee.
The Albany-based fund closed $125 million in private equity transactions to the PCGI/NYSCRF Emerging Europe Investment Program, which received $100 million, and the DFJ Gotham NY Fund II, $25 million.
A $50 million hedge fund transaction was closed with Lansdowne U.K. Equity Fund.
Six real estate transactions closed for affordable housing units range from $292,109 to $2.56 million.
Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund, Columbus, committed $25 million to TA Associates XI, confirmed spokesman David Graham.
The $8.7 billion system already has committed a total of $200 million so far this year toward a target of $300 million by the end of the year, according to Mr. Graham.
Ohio School Employees Retirement System, Columbus, hired Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder Advisors and Donald Smith & Co. to manage a combined $225 million in domestic large-cap equities, according to the system's website.
Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder will run $150 million; Donald Smith, $75 million.
Tim Barbour, spokesman for the $7.5 billion system, was not available at press time to provide further information on the hirings.
Separately, the board renewed investment consultant Summit Strategies Group's contract for one year, according to the website.
Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System, Oklahoma City, rehired Northern Trust as master custodian for the $4.6 billion system, confirmed Tom Spencer, executive director.
Northern Trust has served as master custodian for the system for the past 10 years. The new contract is for five years effective July 1, Mr. Spencer said.
Other finalists were State Street Bank, BNY Mellon, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and UMB Bank of Kansas City, Mr. Spencer said.
“(Northern Trust) sharpened their pencil and gave us a good, aggressive bid, and we've been satisfied for the last few years, and we felt they had earned our business for the next five years,” Mr. Spencer said, noting that there were several other good candidates.
The RFP was issued Feb. 6. Consultant Strategic Investment Solutions assisted.
Stichting Bedrijfstakpensioenfonds PB, Amsterdam, hired PGGM as fiduciary manager of the plan's €300 million ($390 million) in total assets, PGGM spokeswoman Chris Ypma said.
The fiduciary management mandate is the second this year for PGGM, which manages the assets of the €71.5 billion Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn, Zeist, Netherlands.
Information on the current managers of Particuliere Beveiliging, the Dutch private security industry pension fund, was not available from Ms. Ypma. Fund officials could not be reached by press time.
Consultant Avida International assisted.
Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, Harrisburg, rehired real estate consultant Townsend Group under a new five-year contract, confirmed spokesman Robert R. Gentzel.
Townsend's current contract expires in June. The $24 billion system issued an RFI in November. R.V. Kuhns was the other finalist.
Separately, the board voted to reduce its assumed rate of return on investments to 8%.
Pension Protection Fund, Croydon, England, hired Hewitt Associates as longevity risk consultant, confirmed PPF spokesman Richard Hunt.
Hewitt will assess the PPF's current and future longevity risks and develop a cost/benefit analysis of ways to mitigate those risks, said Martin Bird, principal and U.K. longevity solutions group lead at Hewitt.
An RFP for the consultant was issued late last year, Mr. Hunt said.
Hewitt is the first longevity consultant at the PPF, the U.K.'s pension insurance fund, which oversees about £3 billion ($4.4 billion) in assets.
San Francisco City and County Employees' Retirement System committed $15 million to Trinity Ventures X, a venture capital fund, said David Kushner, deputy director for investments for the $11.7 billion system.
