Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System, Phoenix, committed up to $80 million to StepStone to manage in secondary private equity and venture capital, and $40 million to Stone Point Capital Trident V fund, which will invest in firms that provide global financial services, confirmed Jim Hacking, administrator of the $5.9 billion system.
Also, convertibles manager Waterstone Capital Management was hired to run $40 million in its market neutral fund. Funding for the move will come from reducing equities; no managers will be terminated.
As of Sept. 30, the system's asset allocation was 35.7% U.S. equities, 20.6% non-U.S. equities, 18.5% fixed income, 8.7% real estate, 7.5% credit opportunities, 4% real assets, 3.1% private equity and 1.9% short-term investments.
Health Industry Plan, Sydney, hired Tribeca Investment Partners to manage a A$35 million (US$32 million) active extension portfolio, according to Investment & Technology newspaper.
Tribeca replaces SSgA; the A$550 million fund also has a long/short mandate with BGI.
Ross Bernays, the plan's CEO, said he thought Tribeca was better suited to take advantage of a return to market “normality” and it would better complement its existing long/short equities exposure.
JANA is the fund's investment consultant.
John Hancock Annuities hired DSM Capital Partners as subadviser of its $97 million M Fund Turner Core Growth offering, replacing Turner Investment Partners, according to an SEC filing.
The fund's name was changed to the M Large Cap Growth Fund.
Hancock spokeswoman Beth McGoldrick wasn't immediately available for comment. A spokesman for Turner declined to comment.
Los Angeles Fire & Police Pension System committed $10 million to venture capital fund Angeleno Investors III, said Michael A. Perez, general manager of the $12.58 billion system.
Angeleno III, which has a $250 million target, expects to invest in U.S. alternative energy and clean technology, according to a report to the board by Daren C. Perlstein, LAFPP investment officer.
The system's private equity consultant, StepStone, said in the report that Angeleno's value-oriented approach and focus on companies that already have revenues would help mitigate the risk in the clean-tech sector, which is new and volatile, and the 4-year-old firm's limited track record. Angeleno is not using a placement agent.
Separately, the system's board on Nov. 5 could consider giving its new private equity consultant what the system calls “discretion in a box,” Mr. Perez said. In the past, the board voted on each commitment to each fund. A search is under way for a new private equity consultant; a selection is expected within the next two months. StepStone has rebid.
The system is also searching for a general consultant and staff expects to ask the board to make a selection soon after a private equity consultant is chosen, he said. Incumbent Pension Consulting Alliance can rebid.
Also, Northern Trust Global Investments was retained as manager of $620 million in a Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond index fund. NTGI's contract was set to expire Nov. 30. No RFP was issued.
Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System, Oklahoma City, added the BlackRock Small-Cap Growth Equity Institutional mutual fund as an investment option in the combined $500 million SoonerSave 401(a) and 457 plans for state employees, confirmed Tom Spencer, executive director.
Columbia Acorn Z mutual fund, which had been the plans' small-cap option, has become more of a midcap fund but will be retained, Mr. Spencer said in an interview.
Both plans have 20 investment options, including five target-date funds.
Oklahoma Teachers' Retirement System, Oklahoma City, hired Franklin Park Associates to run $400 million in a discretionary private equity account, said James R. Wilbanks, executive secretary of the $8.1 billion system.
Franklin Park succeeds Aldus Equity Partners, which was the system's private equity fund-of-funds manager before it was terminated in May because the firm was accused of involvement in a pay-to-play scheme concerning investments of the $116.5 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany.
The Oklahoma system had committed about $440 million to Aldus last year, but the manager was only in the first year of the contract and had called only about $12 million, Mr. Wilbanks said.
The system also placed manager Chase Investment Counsel on notice for performance and because of the departure of Chase Investment President and CIO David Scott, Mr. Wilbanks said. The firm runs $310 million in active domestic large-cap growth equities.
Putting a manager on notice “is almost an automatic step for us when there is a departure,” Mr. Wilbanks said. He said Chase would remain on notice until at least the end of January.
Orange County Employees Retirement System, Santa Ana, Calif., tentatively committed $50 million to the Adams Street Partnership fund program 2010, subject to legal review and a meeting with Adams Street executives within 60 days, said Robert Kinsler, spokesman for the $7.2 billion system.
Separately, the system's board granted American Realty Advisors' request for $14.196 million to pay down debt on the Danada Square Shopping Center in Wheaton, Ill., and the request of CB Richard Ellis for $18.567 million to pay down the debt on 777 Brickell Ave., Miami; both are held in the system's separately managed portfolios.
No other information was available at press time.
Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, Harrisburg hired Fortress Investment Group, Ramius LLC and Waterfall Asset Management to run up to $100 million each in core fixed income, according to a news release from the $24 billion system.
Funding for the hirings comes from cash.
Pamela Hile, plan spokeswoman, could not be reached by press time for further information.
Suffolk County Council Pension Fund, Ipswich, England, rehired Hymans Robertson as investment consultant, search consultant and actuary, according to Tenders Electronic Daily.
Hymans Robertson's previous contract expired Aug. 31. The £1.1 billion ($1.8 billion) fund began a search in July.
Peter G. Edwards, the fund's corporate finance manager, could not be reached for comment by press time.
UAW VEBA, Ann Arbor, Mich., hired Ennis Knupp to conduct an asset allocation study for the fund, according to sources.
Ennis Knupp will also help the new voluntary employee beneficiary association fund get a handle on valuing its assets, estimated to be $34 billion in addition to equity and debt securities issued by General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC.
Ennis Knupp will also help in implementing the allocation, including the hiring of external managers.
The VEBA officially becomes operational Jan. 1.
The creation of the VEBA was part of labor contracts of the three auto companies dating before GM and Chrysler filed earlier this year for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, under which they have since emerged and reorganized. Under a federal government-brokered bailout plan of the auto companies, the VEBA was given part ownership of the restructured GM and Chrysler. Ford did not file for bankruptcy.
Christine Moroski, UAW spokeswoman, said UAW officials declined to comment.
West Midlands Pension Fund, Wolverhampton, England, will invest $50 million in BlueBay Asset Management's long-short emerging market fixed-income strategy, according to Kevin Dervey, senior investment manager for non-equity strategies at the fund.
The £7 billion ($11.5 billion) plan funded the move by reducing U.K. equity, Mr. Dervey said in an e-mail response to questions. He declined to name any managers whose portfolios might have been reduced or terminated.
“The fund's strategy was revised in January 2009 to include a further allocation to alternatives, including emerging markets,” Mr. Dervey wrote.
The strategy will invest in assets denominated in U.S. dollars, other Group of 7 currencies and local currencies.
Further information was not available by press time.
