Executives for Texas Utilities Co. and Enserch Corp. have begun preliminary work on how to combine the pension assets of the two Dallas-based companies, which are in the process of merging, said John E. Thompson Jr., trust investments manager for Texas Utilities.
The combining of the $1.2 billion at Texas Utilities and the $270 million at Enserch, won't occur until after the merger is finalized, which is expected in April, he said.
United Asset Management made its first acquisition of a non-investment company. UAM today closed its purchase of InvestLink Technologies, a firm that develops software for defined contribution plan record-keeping and administration. Terms were not disclosed.
InvestLink will operate under its own name as an independent unit. Crain Communications is introducing a weekly newspaper, InvestmentNews, for the investment advisory and financial planning marketplace.
The 60,000-circulation publication will target registered investment advisers, financial planners, registered representatives, insurance marketers, trust officers, bankers, accountants and attorneys offering financial, investment, estate planning and advisory services to individuals. Publication will begin Sept. 8. Two preview issues will be published this summer.
Crain publishes P&I Daily and Pensions & Investments.
Rep. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., chairman of the House Subcommittee on Social Security, will hold hearings March 6 to examine the Social Security Advisory Council's recent recommendations on shoring up the financially strapped system. Three members of the 13-member advisory council will testify.
San Francisco City & County Employees Retirement System increased its equity target at the expense of fixed income. The target allocation for equity investments was increased to 62% from 59%, while the fixed-income allocation fell to 38% from 41%.CEO Clare Murphy said it's possible trustees of the $8 billion fund might look into manager searches for international equity and high-yield commercial mortgage-backed securities assignments as a result of the changes, but nothing has been planned yet.
California Public Employees' Retirement System, Sacramento, named CB Commercial Real Estate and Cushman & Wakefield as appraisers for the fund's real estate portfolio. The selection drops the number of real estate appraisers to two from 11 with an expected annual saving of $250,000 to $425,000. The fund, with $111.5 billion in assets, also expects greater consistency in its appraisal reports.
Sun Life of Canada (U.S.) rolled out a new bundled service for 401(k) plans with up to 99 participants. RQ-EZ includes administration, record keeping, education support materials and investments. Nine investment options come from American Century, Fidelity, MFS, Neuberger & Berman and Sun Life of Canada (U.S.). Administration is done by Benefits Resource Group Inc. and includes daily valuation, voice response and IRS filings.
Eaton Vance Distributors is using mutual fund supermarkets as a new distribution channel for its mutual fund family, the Traditional Funds. The family is now available to fee-based financial advisers through six no-transaction-fee programs: Charles Schwab's Institutional OneSource; Fidelity Investment Advisor Group Funds Network; Jack White's Advisor Services Division NoFee Network; DATALynx NTF Program; Trust Co. of America Fund Source; and Waterhouse Securities Investment Advisor Services Mutual FundConnection.
Eaton Vance also established a new sales force to support the fee-based adviser market.
HIRINGS
Chicago Hospital Risk Pooling Program hired Putnam as its first equity manager. The $200 million liability fund used Bank of America for fixed income before awarding Putnam $16 million for core U.S. equity. Adding equities was a recommendation of SEI Consulting, which came on board in 1996 to review the fund's investment policy, said Ken Skertich, trust administrator.
The board will decide next month whether to retain SEI, which has been hired in the past on a project basis.
The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, New York, hired GEM Capital Management for a $5 million high-yield bond portfolio. The hire is the $175 million fund's first move into the area, said Marvin A. Kaufman, president. Assets came from a reallocation.
Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Newton, Mass., hired Putnam to run $20 million in core U.S. growth equities for its endowment. Putnam replaces another firm that Stephen DeVeau, director of general accounting, would not identify. The endowment has $35.5 million in assets, according to Nelson's Directory of Plan Sponsors. New England Pension Consultants assisted
