United Asset Management is considering a possible acquisition of Trust Co. of the West. Sources said UAM officials have been doing due diligence recently on the $53.3 billion firm, which has been on the block since late last year. Spokesmen for UAM and TCW declined to comment.
Acquiring TCW would not be a stretch. In an interview last November, UAM President Norton Reamer told P&I the company could buy a manager with $50 billion under management or more, and had the resources to pull off a deal priced at up to $1 billion. Sources put the price tag for TCW around $800 million.
In other news, UAM promoted Charles H. Salisbury to executive vice president and director of marketing and service strategies. Mr. Salisbury, formerly a senior vice president, will oversee UAM's four marketing organizations and will coordinate expanded marketing efforts for institutional and retail distribution in the United States and abroad.
California State Teachers' Retirement System board, Sacramento, approved sending out an RFP in March for an international equity securities lender.
The $68 billion fund's master custodian, State Street Bank, already is doing some international equity securities lending as part of its master custody contract with the system. Fund officials believe they can increase international equity lending income and diversify securities lending styles by adding another lender.
New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany, terminated Carlson Investment Management. Carlson was a small-cap value equity manager in the emerging manager trust of F.I.S. Funds Management. The firm ran $14 million for the $78 billion fund.
SEARCHINGS & HIRINGS
Tucson Supplemental Retirement System trustees are preparing RFPs for a consultant search that could be launched by late March, said Michael Parisi, treasury administrator. The consultant will perform an asset-liability study and subsequent manager searches for the $336 million plan.
New Bedford (Mass.) Retirement hired Loomis Sayles to run $15 million in fixed income and is considering additional changes on the equity side following a restructuring of the $100 million plan.
Funding for the Loomis portfolio has yet to be determined, said Timothy O'Connor, city auditor. Watson Wyatt assisted.
Fund officials also are looking into adding a value equity manager to handle $20 million. No timetable has been established.
San Francisco City & County Employees' Retirement System has approved an allocation of up to $20 million to ABRY Broadcast Partners III, an alternative investment fund. The limited partnership invests in broadcast and broadcast related properties. The $7.5 billion city pension fund has about 3.8% of assets in alternative investments.
Gaz Metropolitain, Montreal, hired Adenda Capital to manage a Canadian fixed-income portfolio, said Edward Doucet, manager of its C$150 million (U.S. $111 million) pension fund. Adenda will be assigned 20% of the fund. Funding came from a reallocation. Sobeco Ernst & Young assisted.
Atlanta General Employees' Pension Fund, with $513 million in assets, selected Gray & Co. as the new investment consultant, said Sheila Brown, a trustee. Gray replaces the joint venture between Watson Wyatt and Washington Hackett, which was a finalist in the search.
Zippo Manufacturing, Bradford, Pa., hired Diversified Investment Advisors to manage a high-yield bond fund for its almost $50 million pension fund, said Robert R. Jackson, CFO. Zippo also changed its strategic investment policy for its pension fund. It increased the policy equity allocation range to between 30% and 70% from between 30% and 60%. Its recent equity allocation was 52%.
The size of Diversified's allocation was not available. Funding came from a reallocation.
Princess House Inc., North Dighton, Mass., hired INVESCO Retirement Plan Services as bundled service provider for its $6 million 401(k) plan. Princess House officials declined to name the existing service provider. INVESCO will provide six investment funds, record keeping and communications.
St. Louis Water and Sewer District hired two bond managers to split $25 million formerly managed by Patterson Capital.
Llama Asset Management will run $5 million; Income Research & Management will run $20 million. Karl Tyminski, executive director of the $85 million system, said the change was made for structural reasons. The district's $10 million 457 plan changed bond options. The Vanguard Total Bond Index Fund replaces the Federated Short/Intermediate Bond Fund.
San Diego Community Foundation hired two small-cap managers, said Bob Clelland, trustee of the $80 million fund. Kestrel was assigned $3.2 million and Becker Capital, $9.8 million. Wurts & Associates assisted
