Martin Slate, executive director of the PBGC, died Sunday, a spokesman in his office said today. Sources said he died of natural causes.
Mr. Slate, 50, was appointed to the post in 1993. Before that, he was head of the IRS' employee plans division.
Further details were not immediately available.
Pensioenfonds PGGM, Zeist, the Netherlands, received approval from its board to hire a global TAA manager, said Marinus Keijzer, chief economist and strategist for the fund. Mr. Keijzer said implementation will be some time off, and it's too early to say how much the 65 billion guilder ($34.3 billion) pension fund for Dutch health-care workers will allocate to the strategy.
Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass., is considering a broad range of investment opportunities for its $283 million endowment fund, said Janice Albano, director of treasury operations.
The college has $50 million to invest that was in a Odyssey Partners hedge fund, which was liquidated in January. Of that, $10 million already has been placed with existing manager The Common Fund for its new venture capital partnership. Ms. Albano said the fund plans to hire new managers but added it was too early to discuss specific asset classes. She expects to move some of the money to existing emerging market and international money managers.
Cambridge Associates is assisting.
Callan Associates' latest five-year capital markets forecast recommends plan sponsors cut their domestic stock exposure by three to four percentage points and redeploy the money in domestic bonds, international stocks and real estate to maintain current risk exposure, said Ronald D. Peyton, president and CEO.
Sponsors looking for higher returns and comfortable with assuming more risk would still find it worthwhile to maintain or increase their domestic equity levels. ``We still expect stocks to earn more than bonds, but not as much as has been the case historically,'' said Michael O'Leary, executive vice president. The consulting firm predicts the S&P 500 index will earn 9.3% annually over the next five years, while domestic bonds will earn 7.2%, creating a spread far less than the historic three to five percentage points, he said.
The SEC today voted 3-1 not to hear an appeal by a group of investors seeking to overturn a decision letting companies omit shareholder proposals on workplace issues.Members of the ICCR and the Amalgamated Bank of New York Longview Collective Investment Fund filed the appeal asking the commissioners to overturn the staff's decision letting four companies withhold employment-related shareholder proposals. Three of the companies - Shoney's, GTE and Exxon - last week agreed to investors' requests; only AlliedSignal held off.
Tim Smith, executive director of ICCR, could not say whether the group would sue AlliedSignal in court to press for inclusion of the shareholder proposal.
SEARCHES & HIRINGS
CalPERs' investment committee accepted a report calling for an RFP to be issued March 3 for apartment managers. Final filing date for the RFP is April 15. The RFP is part of the $111.5 billion fund's restructuring of its $7.5 billion real estate portfolio.
CalPERS has about $522 million invested in apartments. Managers that invest in apartments for the fund are LaSalle Advisors, Equitable Real Estate, Metric Institutional, RREEF and Sentinel.
In closed session, the committee also approved a subcommittee's recommendation to approve a strategic plan for industrial real estate. Details weren't available.
Park Employees' Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago is seeking an active international equity manager following an increase in the fund's non-U.S. stock allocation.
The search is being done through the fund's consultant Ennis, Knupp.
The $507 million plan will fund the increase, which doubles its previous 5% international exposure, by liquidating its real estate investments, said Joseph Fratto, executive director. The fund has about 8% in real estate now, using Aeltus and MetLife Realty Group as outside managers and handling about 3% internally.
The new international manager is expected to be chosen at the board's May meeting.
The fund also terminated Phoenix-Duff & Phelps as fixed-income manager and Holland Capital as domestic equity manager because of performance. Phoenix's $30 million and Holland's $5 million accounts will be divided among existing managers. Holland officials had no comment, and Phoenix officials could not be reached for comment.
Pioneer Funds Distributor Inc., Boston, selected United of Omaha's guaranteed interest contract as an investment option for its turnkey 401(k) product. The option is added to the 18 mutual funds already offered
