AUSCOAL completes fixed income restructure with new managers

AUSCOAL Super, Warners Bay, Australia, completed a restructuring of its A$800 million (US$629 million) fixed interest portfolio, according to Investment & Technology newspaper.

The A$4.1 billion fund hired absolute-return managers Franklin Templeton, Mondrian, Schroders, Vianova Group and Kapstream Capital; global credit managers AllianceBernstein and Banquo Credit Management; and passive manager PIMCO to manage the assets.

“The mandates are structured to encourage managers to use their skills to identify value across the full range of sectors within the fixed interest universe. Implicit in the mandates is a disincentive to invest in sectors or securities which they perceive as offering little value,” said an AUSCOAL spokesman.

PIMCO was the only manager retained from the original manager lineup; AMP Capital Investors, Credit Suisse and BT Financial Group were terminated.

40/86 Advisors hired Hyperion Brookfield Asset Management as investment adviser and fund administrator for the 40/86 Strategic Income Fund, pending shareholder approval, according to a news release.

The $50 million mutual fund had been managed by 40/86 Advisors, which “determined as a business matter to discontinue management of the fund,” according to the news release.

The fund's shareholders will vote on the new contract at a special meeting on Aug. 12. If approved, Hyperion Brookfield will assume management of the fund around Sept. 1.

Gamla SEB Trygg Liv, the insurance and pension division of Sweden's SEB, hired Aberdeen Property Investors to manage €1.4 billion ($1.9 billion) in direct real estate, effective in 2010.

Aberdeen Property Investors, the real estate investment unit of Aberdeen Asset Management, will run the portfolio of about 72 mainly office properties in major Swedish cities such as Stockholm, Goteburg and Uppsala, according to an Aberdeen news release.

The hiring doubles Aberdeen's real estate assets under management in Sweden to €3.1 billion.

As of March 31, Aberdeen had €25 billion in real estate assets under management in Europe, Asia and North America.

Neither Jan Sooder, managing director of Aberdeen Property Investors in Sweden, nor Marita Loft, head of real estate investment management at Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, could be reached by press time for further information.

Goldman Sachs Group hired Williams Capital Management to run $1 billion of the company's balance sheet assets in U.S. Treasury and government agency securities, according to Christopher J. Williams, CEO of parent Williams Capital Group.

In an interview, Mr. Williams said the hiring will more than double Williams Capital Management's current $800 million in assets under management; Williams Capital manages most of its money market funds on behalf of corporate treasury clients, but it also manages about $275 million in high-yield assets for other clients, including pension funds, Mr. Williams said.

Goldman spokesman Ed Canaday said his firm has worked with Williams Capital Group on a number of transactions over the past five years or so and hopes to further strengthen the two firms' working relationship.

Indiana State Teachers' Retirement Fund, Indianapolis, hired Capital Cities to consult on finding new investment options for the fund's $3 billion Annuity Savings Account, a 403(b) defined contribution plan, said Molly E. Deuberry, director-communication and outreach.

Ten investment managers now handle the fund's six investment options: an S&P 500 index fund, a small-cap equity fund, an international equity fund, a bond fund, a guaranteed fund and a money market fund.

TRF plans to add investment options next year.

Further information was not immediately available.

Pontiac (Mich.) General Employees' Retirement System funded a $20 million active domestic large-cap value equity manager-of-managers separate account run by United Investment Managers, confirmed Ellen Zimmerman, retirement system administrator.

The allocation is divided among subadvisers Seizert Capital Partners, $6 million; Allegiant Asset Management and NorthPointe Capital, $5 million each; and AMBS Investment Counsel, $4 million, said Cheryl Hua, senior portfolio manager at UIM.

United Investment Managers also manages a $35 million emerging manager-of-managers program for the $335 million system, Ms. Zimmerman said. According to minutes of the pension fund board, UIM also manages an active domestic large-cap growth equity portfolio for the fund; the size could not be learned.

Laurence O. Gray, CEO of United Investment Managers, also serves as general investment consultant to the Pontiac fund through Gray & Co., an affiliated company that advises the plan.

Funding came from Mesirow Financial, which ran the money in large-cap equities but was terminated in January, according to minutes of the system's Jan. 28 board meeting.

Pensioenfonds Productschappen, Rijswijk, Netherlands, hired Mn Services as fiduciary manager of its €365 million ($508 million) plan, said Philip Jan Looijen, director of fiduciary management at Mn Services.

Mn will manage about 95% of the portfolio in a multiasset strategy that includes alternatives, Mr. Looijen said. The remainder will be run by existing managers in relatively illiquid strategies, including private equity. He declined to name the managers.

Officials at the pension fund could not be reached by press time for further details.

San Bernardino County (Calif.) Employees' Retirement Association committed $20 million to Cairn Capital's Structured Credit Fund, a hedge fund strategy, said Donald Pierce, investment officer of the $4.5 billion association.

The board also adopted a long-term interest rate hedging strategy, to manage the interest rate exposure of the entire portfolio, he explained. There will be no searches; Russell which runs the association's derivatives program, will run the new strategy, he said.