AP funds
Four Swedish AP funds selected Ethix SRI Advisors, GES Investment Services and Sustainalytics for ESG analysis and advisory services, confirmed Nadine Viel Lamare, spokeswoman for AP1, Stockholm.
Also, Northwest & Ethical Investments was selected for environmental, social and governance advisory services only.
All of the managers are expected to sign "framework agreements," which allow each of the four AP funds the ability to hire any of the consultants when services are needed, Ms. Lamare said.
Previously, GES Investment Services was the sole provider for all four funds, with a combined 812.2 billion Swedish kronor ($116.8 billion) in assets.
An RFP was issued in June. The search was coordinated by the Ethical Council, a committee formed by the funds to coordinate work on ESG issues.
As of June 30, AP1's assets were 202.6 billion kronor; AP2, Gothenburg, 204.8 billion kronor; and AP3 and AP4, both of Stockholm, 208.6 billion and 196.2 billion, respectively.
Arizona Public Safety
Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System, Phoenix, committed up to $180 million in hedge funds, private equity and diversified beta strategies, confirmed James Hacking, administrator of the $6.5 billion system.
Mr. Hacking said in a telephone interview that the board approved reallocating up to $70 million to the diversified beta strategy Bridgewater All Weather Portfolio II. The reallocation comes from distributions received from an earlier investment in Bridgewater Pure Alpha Fund II, Mr. Hacking said.
"As they come back in they are going to be reinvested," he said.
The system also approved a commitment of up to $60 million in Baring Asia Private Equity Fund V. Mr. Hacking said the investment aims to diversify the system's private equity exposure.
The system also approved a commitment of up to $50 million in Davidson Kempner Institutional Partners, a low-volatility, multistrategy hedge fund. Mr. Hacking said the strategy varies between merger arbitrage and distressed securities.
The Baring and Davidson Kempner commitments will be funded from the system's equities portfolio. Mr. Hacking said the system is still reducing its equities exposure. The system has a 35% target allocation and a 38% actual allocation to equities.
Biffa
Biffa Pension Scheme, High Wycombe, England, hired Aon Hewitt as fiduciary manager for its £70 million ($112 million) equity portfolio, according to a news release from Aon Hewitt.
The firm already is investment consultant to the £250 million fund and will retain that role for the remainder of the fund's portfolio, which comprises bonds, hedge funds, real estate and infrastructure.
Spokesmen at Biffa and Aon Hewitt did not respond to requests for further information by press time.
CareSuper, Melbourne, Australia, hired Schroder Investment Management to run A$200 million (US$194.7 million) in Australian equities, according to Investment magazine, Sydney.
The A$4 billion plan will fund the hire by terminating the portfolio's previous manager, 452 Capital, after most of its executives left earlier this year.
Greg Nolan, CareSuper's chief investment officer, said the new mandate has a similar bias to quality and value as that which it is replacing.
IOOF Holdings
IOOF Holdings, as part of the consolidation of its United Funds Management and MultiMix units, awarded two investment mandates and terminated 16, according to Investment magazine, Sydney.
Merlon Capital Partners received a A$145 million (US$141.6 million) mandate for its domestic equities buy-write strategy, and Legg Mason, a A$100 million small-cap Australian equities mandate.
But the consolidation, which Steve Merlicek, IOOF's chief investment officer, said was undertaken to achieve greater investment scale of the combined A$5.3 billion in assets, saw mandates terminated in all asset classes except alternatives and cash.
Terminated as Australian equities managers were Alleron Investment Management, SG Hiscock, Concord Capital, Tyndall Investment Management and Northcape Capital.
Managers now running the combined A$1.8 billion Australian equities portfolio, in addition to Merlon and Legg Mason, are Solaris Investment Management, Integrity Investment Management, AllianceBernstein, Perennial and BlackRock.
Terminated from international equities portfolios were The Boston Co., Perpetual Investments, GMO and Capital International.
Now, IOOF's A$1.1 billion global equities exposure will be managed in an indexed-core, active-satellite structure with State Street Global Advisors being the passive manager and LSV Asset Management, Well-ington Management and Axiom Investment Management running more specialized, high-conviction strategies, and Pareto Partners running a currency overlay.
Among fixed-income managers, UFM's internal high-yield fund was dropped, as were portfolios managed by Newton, Aberdeen Asset Management and Morgan Stanley.
PIMCO, Perennial and Loomis Sales now manage the combined portfolio's A$1.3 billion.
Invesco lost international property mandates. Perennial, Challenger and Colonial First State will manage the new A$144 million Australian property portfolio, and Perennial and Cohen &Steers will run the A$147 million international property portfolio.
IOOF's A$200 million in alternative investments, and its $A640 million in cash were unchanged.
Los Angeles County Employees
Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, Pasadena, Calif., hired Credit Suisse to manage $250 million in commodities, said Lisa Mazzocco, chief investment officer of the $36 billion association.
Funding will come from the association's fixed-income portfolio. No further information was available at press time.
An RFP for the commodities portfolio was issued June 29.
John Muir Health
John Muir Health, Walnut Creek, Calif., hired Northern Trust as global custodian for its almost $950 million in combined pension, endowment and operating funds, said Greg Schwartz, director of treasury for the medical institution.
Muir — which has $241 million in defined benefit plan assets; $600 million in operating funds invested in diversified long-term strategies; $100 million in operating funds invested short term; and $6 million in endowment fund assets — replaced Bank of New York Mellon, Mr. Schwartz said.
Canterbury Consulting, Newport Beach, Calif., assisted in the search.
Muir undertook the search because it had been a number of years since it sought to gauge the market for custodial services, Mr. Schwartz said.
New Mexico Educational Retirement Board
New Mexico Educational Retirement Board's investment committee on Nov. 18 committed $40 million each to private equity funds Strategic Value Global Opportunities II and Black Diamond Capital Management Opportunity III, and up to $30 million to real assets fund Ecosystem Investment Partners II, according to Bob Jacksha, chief investment officer at the Santa Fe-based $8.8 billion fund.
The commitment to the Ecosystem fund would be no more than 20% of its total capital commitments, Mr. Jacksha said.
The Strategic Value fund focuses on European private equity investments valued between $25 million and $75 million. Black Diamond focuses on private equity investments of between $50 million and $100 million.
Ohio Police & Fire
Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund, Columbus, committed $30 million to the Savanna Real Estate Fund II.
Savanna is seeking $500 million in capital commitments to acquire office properties in the northeast and mid-Atlantic corridor with an emphasis on the New York City region, David Graham, spokesman for the $11.3 billion Ohio fund, said in an interview.
The system's real estate portfolio totals $707 million and represents 6.25% of the overall retirement fund.
San Diego County Employees
San Diego County Employees Retirement Association at its Nov. 18 board meeting approved a new commitment of $50 million to $60 million to Baring Asia Private Equity V; an additional $50 million to Bridgewater Pure Alpha Major Markets Fund; and a follow-on commitment of $25 million to Drug Royalty II Co-Investment Fund.
The $7.2 billion association currently has $56.8 million invested in Bridgewater's Pure Alpha Fund, according to materials prepared for the meeting.
