BlackRock, RhumbLine Advisers and State Street Global Advisors are the finalists in a search by the Connecticut Retirement Plans & Trust Funds, Hartford, for a “panel” of money managers to supervise several passive portfolios.
State Treasurer Denise Nappier, as principal fiduciary of the $25.8 billion system, has the final say on choosing managers. She is expected to make a decision “before the next (council) meeting” in August, Jonathan Harris deputy treasurer, wrote in an e-mail.
SSgA currently manages $5.2 billion in passive accounts for the system, Mr. Harris wrote.
SSgA “has performed to satisfaction on its three mandates: domestic equity, international equity and core fixed income,” according to a May 20 memo to Ms. Nappier from Lee Ann Palladino, interim chief investment officer. “The last competitive search for a passive mandate was conducted in 1995, and state procurement practices require a competitive search be performed.”
The state launched a search in June 2009 for “a panel of passive money managers that will be awarded … the assignment of a passive mandate or to invest in an exchange-traded fund,” Ms. Nappier wrote in a June 1 memo to the Investment Advisory Council, which advises her on investment choices.
“The goal of the passive panel is to provide greater portfolio efficiency that will allow the flexibility to change asset allocation, replace terminated managers and enhance our ability to access a wider spectrum of market exposures,” she wrote.
