Braintree Contributory Board
BRAINTREE, Mass. -- Braintree Contributory Retirement Board hired New England Pension Consultants to replace Advest Custom Consulting, which rebid, as consultant for its $81 million fund, said Phyllis DiPalma, finance director.
The board will discuss the firm's first order of business at a July 27 meeting, Ms. DiPalma said.
Cambridge Retirement System
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The $386 million Cambridge Retirement System has picked Freedom Capital to run a $30 million domestic large-cap portfolio, rotating between growth and value styles. Money for the new fund will come from cutting back other portfolios managed by Freedom, which handles about 23% of the system's assets in domestic value stocks, said Kevin Leonard, the Segal Advisors consultant to the fund.
City of Fitchburg
FITCHBURG, Mass. -- The $65 million City of Fitchburg Retirement System picked Dreyfus as a domestic small-cap manager to run 5% of its assets, or about $3 million, said Kevin Leonard, the Segal Advisors consultant who assisted. The other finalists were Gabelli, Wachovia and Systematic. Funding will come from Family Bank, the fund's balanced manager.
Fulton County Retirement
ATLANTA -- The Fulton County Retirement System selected 12 investment options for its new 401(a) plan, which began enrolling all new employees July 7.
The following options are offered through Nationwide Trust Co.: Nationwide Money Market Fund; Goldman Sachs Government Income Fund A; INVESCO Total Return Fund; BT Pyramid: Investment Equity 500 Fund; Federated American Leaders Fund A; Dreyfus Appreciation Fund; America Century International Growth Advisors Fund; INVESCO Dynamics Fund; INVESCO Small Company Growth Fund; Dreyfus Lifetime Income Fund; Dreyfus Lifetime Growth and Income Fund; Dreyfus Lifetime Growth Fund.
A total of 6,000 employees will be eligible for the new plan. Existing employees will be allowed to switch to the defined contribution plan Nov. 1.
Genesee County Employees
FLINT, Mich. -- The Genesee County Employees Retirement System hired Munder Capital Management to run $12 million in real estate investment trusts, said Warren Vyvyan, retirement office supervisor for the $439 million pension fund. The funding will come from slightly paring back some of the fund's equity portfolios. This is the first real estate allocation the board has approved in several years, he said. It was done to diversify investments, at the suggestion of consultant Asset Strategies Portfolio Services.
Industrial Employers
EMERYVILLE, Calif. -- The Industrial Employers & Distributors Association hired Salomon Smith Barney to replace Bank of New York, which did not rebid, as custodian for its $144 million defined benefit plan, said David McKenzi Jr., trust administrator.
Los Angeles Deferred
LOS ANGELES -- The City of Los Angeles' Board of Deferred Compensation Administration approved a contract with Hartford Life Insurance, which will provide four mutual funds as investment options: general account; Advisers fund; stock fund; and capital appreciation fund.
About $403 million was allocated to these Hartford funds as of year-end 1998: the general account had $144.5 million; capital appreciation, $46.9 million; stock, $124.3 million; and advisers, $86.9 million.
Maryland State Retirement
BALTIMORE -- The Maryland State Retirement Systems hired HarbourVest Partners and Abbott Capital Management as private equity managers to run $100 million and $50 million, respectively, said Richard Dixon, board chairman and state treasurer.
The hirings complete a restructuring that began in February when the $28 billion fund hired one manager, terminated three others, accepted the resignation of one manager and increased allocations for two small-cap U.S. equity managers, he said.
Funding for both allocations came partly from Investment Counselors of Maryland, which resigned as a $135 million domestic fixed-income manager, and partly from rebalancing.
The search was conducted in-house.
Minneapolis Teachers'
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minneapolis Teachers' Retirement Fund Association hired Alliance as a large-cap growth U.S. equity manager to diversify its $899 million fund, said Karen Kilberg, executive director.
Funding for the $53 million allocation came from terminating an S&P 500 index fund managed by PanAgora. Performance was not an issue, Ms. Kilberg said.
The search was conducted in-house.
National Automatic Sprinkler
LANDOVER, Md. -- The National Automatic Sprinkler Industry Pension Fund committed $25 million to the Amalgamated Longview Ultra I Construction Loan Investment Fund, said Mike Jacobson, fund administrator.
The $2.5 billion system, through the Tuckerman Group, a unit of State Street Global Advisors, also made a $6.05 million commitment to the Madison Park Real Estate Investment Trust. Madison Park is redeveloping Tribune Tower, an Oakland, Calif., landmark, which is scheduled for completion in September.
National Fuel Gas Co.
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- National Fuel Gas Co. committed $10 million to the PaineWebber Group Real Estate Fund and $5 million to Heritage Fund III, a private equity fund, said Barry Cope, manager of trust investments for the $520 million defined benefit plan.
Funding will come from liquidating two other investments, an apartment building and a real estate financing limited partnership, he said.
Mr. Cope said 4% of the fund is invested in real estate investments and 1% in private equity.
Norfolk County Retirement
DEDHAM, Mass. -- The $340 million Norfolk County Retirement System hired two managers for closed-end real estate funds -- TA Associates received $4 million, and Sentinel (an existing real estate manager) was given a new $2 million portfolio.
The system also hired MFS to run $10 million in international stocks, to replace Invista, which was terminated in March.
Ohio School Employees
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The $8 billion School Employees' Retirement System of Ohio hired Aronson + Partners to manage a $100 million large-cap value portfolio.
Aronson, which replaced Bran- dywine, was a "better fit in the portfolio," said Doug Sisson, director-investments for the fund. Representatives from Brandywine did not return calls for comment by press time.
Also, trustees will select a target asset allocation at the board's July 29 and 30 meetings. Consultant Frank Russell gave trustees three options: lowering the overall equity allocation; slightly increasing the equity allocation; and sticking with the current mix. Mr. Sisson said trustees seem to be leaning toward an increase.
The current mix is 61% international and domestic equities and venture capital, 28% domestic bonds, 10% real estate and 1% cash.
Oxford Strategic Income Fund
CAYMAN ISLANDS -- Oxford Strategic Income Fund, with $446 million, hired Credit Suisse Asset Management as an additional portfolio manager. Credit Suisse will manage half of the $108 million high-yield bond portion of the fund, which is targeted to institutional investors. The firm was hired to provide additional diversification.
Philadelphia Municipal
PHILADELPHIA -- The $4.75 billion Philadelphia Municipal Employees Retirement System made two new commitments to private equity funds and increased the size of a prior commitment, said Marc Bonavitacola, acting CIO for the fund.
The system committed $10 million to Columbia Capital Equity Partners II, a communications and information technology fund, and $10 million to the buyout fund Fenway Capital Equity Partners II. It also increased its commitment to Fairview Capital Fund II, a fund of funds focusing on minority-owned and minority-focused funds, to $20 million from $10 million, he said. Funding will come from cash, said Mr. Bonavitacola.
Plumbers & Pipefitters
OPA LOCKA, Fla. -- Plumbers & Pipefitters, Local 725, hired Legg Mason and Simms to each run a large-cap U.S. equity portfolio and Batterymarch to run a small-cap U.S. equity and a midcap U.S. equity portfolio, said Charles Hill, administrator. The hirings are to diversify the $80 million defined benefit plan, he said.
Funding came from terminating ASB and ICC, balanced account managers running $17 million and $7 million, respectively. Performance was not an issue, Mr. Hill said.
Pension Fund Evaluation assisted.
San Jose Federated
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- San Jose Federated City Employees' Retirement System hired Paradigm Capital Management to run an $85 million large-cap value U.S. equity portfolio, replacing Wilmington Trust because of poor performance, said Edward Overton, administrator for the $1 billion fund.
Ellen Roberts, spokeswoman for Wilmington Trust, declined to comment on the matter.
Callan Associates assisted.
St. Louis County Retirement
CLAYTON, Mo. -- The St. Louis County Retirement Plan hired Chartwell Investment Partners to replace Fidelity Management Trust as manager of a $37 million U.S. large-cap value equity portfolio, said Dan Holmes, consultant to the $300 million fund.
Fidelity is being terminated because of staff changes, said Marcel Turner, personnel director for St. Louis County.
Terry Clan, spokesman for Fidelity Management Trust, did not comment by press time.
Summit Strategies Group and J.H. Ellwood & Associates assisted.
Trans World Airlines
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Trans World Airlines hired Smith Henderson and Associates as a consultant for its $180 million 401(k)/(a) plan for non-contract workers, one of TWA's four 401(k) plans.
Smith Henderson will review the current plan design and the investment policy and options, and suggest changes in a couple of months, said Larry Cleveland, TWA director-benefits. Some of the 10 options in the quasi-bundled plan, now administered by American Century, have not been performing as well as expected in a booming stock market and the company wants to replace those funds with better performers with low expense ratios, he said. American Century manages most of the investment options in the plan. The quasi-bundled plan format likely will be retained, Mr. Cleveland said.
The 401(k) plan has been without a consultant since last fall, when the previous consultant, which Mr. Cleveland declined to identify, was terminated. Smith Henderson will conduct any manager searches resulting from the plan review and will provide ongoing performance monitoring of plan options.
United Food Workers
PENNSAUKEN, N.J. -- United Food & Commercial Workers Tri-State Pension Plan, with $310 million in assets, hired Emerald Advisers to run about $12 million in a domestic small-cap stock fund, said Wendell Young III, president and chief executive officer of Local 1776.
Funding came from a small-cap manager that was terminated for underperformance, Mr. Young said; he declined to name the manager.
The Venice Foundation
VENICE, Fla. -- The Venice Foundation hired Brandywine Asset Management to run a $10 million small-cap U.S. equity portfolio and Southeastern Asset Management to run $10 million in its Longleaf Partners all-cap mutual fund.
Funding came from terminating Lynch & Mayer, which managed $14 million in a midcap equity portfolio, because of staff turnover, said Jane Killam, director of finance at the $160 million foundation. The additional $6 million came from Venice's liquidation of its self-insurance fund, which was with the local branch of NationsBank.
