The St. Louis Police Retirement System narrowed the field to four firms in a search for two core fixed-income managers and selected two large-cap equity managers, said Stephen Olish, executive secretary for the $570 million fund. Finalists for the two $80 million fixed-income assignments are Miller Anderson & Sherrerd, Morgan Grenfell Capital Management, Northern Trust and Pacific Investment Management.
Mr. Olish declined to name the two equity managers pending contract negotiations. The three finalists for an $85 million large-cap value assignment were Ark Asset, Brinson Partners and Dodge & Cox. Finalists for an $85 million large-cap growth assignment were Fayez Sarofim, IDS and Putnam.
The changes resulted from a review of the portfolio following the termination of Boatmen's Trust earlier this year. SEI is assisting.
U S WEST Inc., Englewood, Colo., added a self-directed brokerage option to its $3.7 billion 401(k) plan. The plan will provide access to the Schwab Personal Choice Retirement Account to its 57,000 participants.
The Personal Choice account - under which participants can buy and sell individual securities in addition to about 1,800 mutual funds, most of which carry a small transaction fee - is being added to the eight core funds at U S WEST. It will be administered by Bankers Trust, the plan's record keeper.
The Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association allocated an additional $200 million to Capital Guardian & Trust for emerging markets. The $20 billion fund already had $425 million with Capital Guardian for emerging market investments. The money will come from the fund's $1.3 billion Lehman aggregate index fund with Bankers Trust.
Senate members of the Republican Retirement Security Task Force, led by Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, introduced a comprehensive pension bill, hoping to get pieces of it included in the Senate Finance Committee's version of the mammoth federal budget bill when it is considered next week.
The Retirement Income Security and Savings Act of 1997, which bears a strong resemblance to a bipartisan pension package introduced yesterday, is aimed at encouraging savings and personal investments through expanded IRAs, providing pension security and portability. The bill would let all workers set up tax-deductible IRAs, help ensure women receive their fair share of pensions, make it easier for small employers to set up pension plans and ensure the security of pension assets.
3i PLC raised 537 million ECU ($605 million) for the first closing of its second fund to invest in unlisted companies in continental Europe. London-based 3i committed 50% of the assets raised for Eurofund II, with eight institutional investors from Britain, the United States and Asia providing the remainder. Most were participants in other 3i funds. 3i officials set a maximum fund size of 650 million ECU and expect that no more than 12 investors will be invested by the final closing.
