Anchor Continental
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Anchor Continental hired MetLife as a bundled provider for its 401(k) plan to replace Boatmen's Trust, which is no longer in the business.
The number of options in the plan will increase to 12 from four. Johnson & Higgins assisted. The plan has $10 million in assets, according to Nelson's Directory of Plan Sponsors.
Bramco Inc.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Bramco Inc. hired Diversified Investment Advisors to handle theinvestments and administration of its $27 million 401(k) plan.
Diversified replaces two firms: INVESCO, which had managed investments for the plan, and
William M. Mercer, which had handled administration, said Michael Brennan, vice president, finance.
Bristol General Retirement
BRISTOL, Conn. -- Bristol General Retirement System hired Phoenix, Duff & Phelps and
Heitman as its first REIT managers to handle $5 million each. The funding for the mandate will come from cash, said Barbara Czaplicki, assistant controller for the $250 million fund. Merrill Lynch assisted.
British Aerospace
CHANTILLY, Va. -- British Aerospace of North America hired T. Rowe Price as bundled providerfor its $10 million 401(k) plan.
CIGNA had been the plan's vendor, said Brenda Cronin, senior benefits specialist. The numberof options will remain at eight, although an international stock fund and U.S. bond fund now will be included. Mercer assisted.
Canada Locally Engaged
OTTAWA -- The Pension Plan of The Employees of the Government of Canada Locally
Engaged in the United States of America hired Northern Trust as trustee and custodian. Northern replaces SunLife of Canada, which also was considered in the C$87 million (U.S.$61 million) plan's search. Watson Wyatt assisted.
Consolidated Freightways
MENLO PARK, Calif. -- Consolidated Freightways Corp. hired Boston Partners as a large-capvalue manager for its $250 million defined benefit plan, said Linda Lester, cash manager. Boston Partners will manage $35 million, which had been placed temporarily with Barclays. Strategic Investment Solutions assisted.
Domtar Inc.
MONTREAL -- Domtar Inc. hired Putnam Investments to manage a foreign equity portfolio forits C$700 million (U.S.$486 million) defined benefit plan.
Putnam will run about C$59 million (U.S.$41 million) in the portfolio. Funding will come from existing managers, none of which will be terminated, said Pierre Drolet, pension fund coordinator. Towers Perrin assisted.
IBEW Local 292
MINNEAPOLIS -- The $200 million International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 292 pension fund hired two managers for active large-cap growth equity. Northern Capital and Smith Asset Management will receive $27.5 million each.
Funding comes from a $55 million assignment managed by Sirach Capital, which wasterminated for performance. Merrill Lynch Consulting assisted. Sirach officials declined to comment.
East Point Retirement
EAST POINT, Ga. -- The City of East Point Retirement Plan, with $45 million in assets, hired First Capital Group as a balanced manager for $10 million.
The funding will come from existing manager Atlanta Capital, which will manage the remaining
$35 million in U.S. growth equity, and from core bond manager Pinnacle Investments, which recently went out of business. Investment Pension Monitoring assisted.
FiTech Corp.
OKLAHOMA CITY -- FiTech Corp. hired T. Rowe Price as bundled provider for its 401(k) plan.
The change in providers follows a merger with the 401(k) plan of Tidland Corp., Camas, Wash., which recently was purchased by FiTech. Tidland used GreatWest as a bundled provider; FiTechhad used Fidelity.
Karen Butler, human resources administrator for FiTech, would not reveal asset size.
Marine Engineers
BALTIMORE -- The Marine Engineers Beneficial Association hired Transamerica to manage
$80 million of its more than $1 billion defined benefit plan, replacing large-cap growth manager Chancellor LGT.
Chancellor was terminated last year, said Mark Winter, controller. Smith Barney assisted.
Marshfield Clinic
MARSHFIELD, Wis. -- Marshfield Clinic hired Northern Trust to provide an S&P 500 index fundfor its $133 million 401(k) plan, said Thomas E. Bauer, manager-retirement plans.
The additional fund brings to seven the number of investment choices offered by the plan.
Jeffrey Slocum & Associates assisted.
MedPartners Inc.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- MedPartners Inc. hired T. Rowe Price as bundled provider for its defined contribution plan. T. Rowe Price will provide 10 investment choices for the new plan, which consolidates 20 plans of recently acquired companies. The plan is expected to have about $400 million. Watson Wyatt assisted.
Miami Systems Corp.
CINCINNATI -- Miami Systems Corp. hired Fifth Third Bank as a provider for its 401(k) plan.
The bank will be both investment adviser and administrator, said Samuel L. Peters, president of Miami Systems.
Minnesota State Board
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota State Board of Investment committed a total of $300 millionto three alternative investment limited partnerships, confirmed Howard Bicker, chief executive officer of the $31 billion fund.
Colony Investors III, a real estate fund; Summit Ventures Fund, a venture capital partnership; and SCF Partners Investment Fund IV, a natural resources fund, each will receive the lesser of $100 million or 20%of the total capital raised by each fund.
Norfolk County Retirement
DEDHAM, Mass. -- The $300 million Norfolk County Retirement System picked State Street
Global to run $20 million in a small-cap blended portfolio and $10 million in a small-cap growth portfolio, said Timothy Cahill, county treasurer.
The fund postponed hiring a small-cap value manager for a $10 million portfolio and might send out a separate request for proposal after its March 3 meeting.
Money for the new investments is coming from the $130 million the fund pulled out of the Massachusetts Pensions Reserve Investment Trust and $30 million from three managersterminated last fall, Mr. Cahill said.
The pension fund also chose six finalists to manage about $50 million in domestic midcapstocks and will pick two managers -- one each for growth and value -- at its next meeting. The finalists for midcap growth are Bennet Lawrence, Zak and Wellington Management. For midcapvalue, the pension fund is considering the Boston Co., INVESCO and Society Asset
Management.
Physio-Control Corp.
REDMOND, Wash. -- Physio-Control Corp. hired T. Rowe Price as bundled provider for its $65 million 401(k) plan.
T. Rowe Price replaces Howard Johnson as record keeper. The number of investment optionswill increase to 10 from four. Officials plan to keep two options offered by INVESCO and
Templeton and drop funds offered by Neuberger & Berman and Morley Capital.
St. Louis Carpenters
ST. LOUIS -- The Carpenters' District Council of Greater St. Louis and Vicinity committed $40 million of its $800 million pension fund to General American's Commercial Mortgage/Plus Fund.
The fund invests in commercial real estate that is built by unions. The money is coming fromcash, said Dave Bauer, assistant controller.
The fund also will add J.A. Glynn as a large-cap growth equity manager. Glynn replaces Mississippi Valley Advisors, which had managed a $60 million portfolio. J.A. Glynn will handle
$40 million, with the rest being allocated among existing managers. The switch was made inorder to follow the move of the portfolio manager at MVA to J.A. Glynn, said Juli Laramie, controller.
St. Louis Public School
ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Public School Retirement System hired Delaware Investment
Advisers to manage a $70 million global fixed-income portfolio and selected finalists in a high- yield manager search.
Gail Lakin, executive director, declined to name the finalists.
Ms. Lakin said that once the fixed-income changes are finished, the pension board will consider what to do with the rest of the portfolio.
City of Tallahassee
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The $603 million City of Tallahassee Pension Plan hired Arthur
Andersen as an investment consultant. The firm replaces SEI, which participated in the search.
It has yet to be decided whether the fund will conduct an asset allocation study, said Tammy Lavine, investment cash manager.
Tube Processing Corp.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Tube Processing Corp. hired T. Rowe Price to provide bundled services forits $12 million 401(k) plan, replacing Charles Schwab as trustee and record keeper. The two T. Rowe Price funds that had been part of the plan will be kept, while funds managed by Vanguard, Neuberger & Berman, PIMCO and Morley Capital will be dropped. The number of options willincrease to 10 from nine. Oxford assisted.
Unilever UK Ltd.
LONDON -- The Unilever UK Ltd. Superannuation Fund hired Northern Trust as globalcustodian, said Wendy Mayall, chief investment officer for the £4 billion ($6.6 billion) fund.
Custody had been provided by Unilever manager Schroder Investment Management, whichmanages a multiasset portfolio for Unilever, and RBS Trust, which provided custody for Mercury Asset Management, J.P. Morgan Investment Management and Capital International portfolios.
The Unilever fund also announced it had appointed Pantheon Ventures to manage its portfolioof limited partnership investments. The fund is in the process of increasing its venture capital exposure to 5% from 3%.
United Alloys
LOS ANGELES -- United Alloys selected American Century as bundled provider for its $3million 401(k) plan. American Century will provide record keeping, administration, 10 American Century investment funds and a self-directed brokerage option through Charles Schwab.
Union Bank of California was the previous record keeper.
University of Colorado
BOULDER, Colo. -- The University of Colorado will invest the cash reserves portion of its $330 million operating fund in six short-term bond mutual funds.
The $20 million to $125 million the school typically has in cash reserves will be invested in the Merrill Lynch Premier Institutional Fund, Provident TempFund, AIM Prime Portfolio, AIM Liquid Asset Portfolio, Dreyfus Government Cash Management Fund and Dreyfus Treasury Cash
Management Fund.
The university previously managed the money in-house, but wanted more liquidity and diversification, said Don Eldhart, assistant treasurer. Callan assisted.
Varis Corp.
MASON, Ohio -- The Varis Corp. hired The Fifth Third Bank to provide quasi-bundled servicesfor its $1 million 401(k) plan.
The startup software developer selected seven investment options: the Scudder Growth &
Income Fund; Vanguard Index 500 and Asset Allocation funds; Fidelity Adviser Growth Fund;
Janus Worldwide Fund; and a bond fund and money market fund managed by Fifth Third Bank.
Fifth Third will provide daily valued record keeping, administration and trust services and employee education and communication. Varis had used quarterly valued plan services from
Star Bank with five investment options.
Wal-Mart Stores
BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. hired KPMG Peat Marwick as a consultant for its
401(k) plan, said Ann Cato, general counsel at Wal-Mart. The plan, created in July, has $90 million in assets. KPMG will monitor investment performance.
