H.F. AHMANSON & CO.
IRWINDALE, Calif. - H.F. Ahmanson & Co. hired Northern Trust to provide record-keeping and trustee services for its $220 million 401(k) plan.
Northern replaces Towers Perrin as record keeper and Bankers Trust as trustee in a move to daily valuation. Ahmanson officials thought the use of a single firm to provide both services would be more efficient, said Mark Bennett, vice president and retirement plan administrator.
The search was completed in-house.
Alaska State Board
JUNEAU, Alaska - The Alaska State Pension Investment Board hired Allegis Realty Investors, PMRealty Advisors and Lowe Enterprises as real estate equity managers to handle $100 million each. Allegis and PMRealty both will manage core real estate equity, and Lowe will handle value-added investments. The funding source for the portfolios has yet to be decided.
The hires bring the $10 billion fund to a total of $540 million committed to real estate; its target allocation is $800 million. Matt Holbert, real estate investment officer, said it is possible the remaining part of the target allocation will be placed with existing real estate managers next year.
Eileen Bryne assisted.
Anglican Church of Canada
TORONTO - The Anglican Church of Canada hired Letko Brosseau & Associates for its C$400 million (U.S.$285 million) pension fund, said Jer Homavazir, executive assistant.
Letko will run C$100 million in Canadian equities.
It replaced Altamira Management, which ran a similar portfolio.
Towers Perrin assisted.
Baptist Health Care
PENSACOLA, Fla. - Baptist Health Care Corp. added Capital Guardian's Europacific Growth Fund as the first international equity portfolio for its defined benefit plan.
Plan officials placed 10% of the $35 million fund in the strategy in a rebalancing of the fund's equity investments, said Rick Haushalter, vice president of finance.
Hewitt Associates assisted.
Baptist Medical System
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Baptist Medical System hired First Commercial Trust as master trustee for its $40 million defined benefit plan.
First Commercial replaces NationsBank. The search was conducted in-house.
Barber Dairies Inc.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Barber Dairies Inc. hired Merrill Lynch as a semibundled provider for its $9 million defined contribution plan.
Merrill Lynch replaces AmSouth Bancorp following a search that plan officials initiated to see if reporting, timeliness of service and responses to participants could be improved, said Phillip Mishalanie, controller. The fund options have yet to be finalized, but are likely to increase from the four funds now, he added.
The search was done in-house.
Bank of Bermuda
NEW YORK - Bank of Bermuda (New York) Ltd. hired Trainer Wortham & Co. to manage U.S. fixed income, said Edgar C. "Ned" Felton, chairman and president.
Trainer Wortham will run a $32 million shorter-duration portfolio.
Mr. Felton said the bank decided to outsource the investment management of a portion of its own corporate assets. The total amount in the corporate pool was unavailable.
Chicago Board of Education
CHICAGO - The Chicago Board of Education hired Trias Capital to track in-house investments and compliance matters relating to its $400 million operating fund. The board also is considering hiring outside managers. Mercer is in the process of completing a study that will help board members choose the best management option, according to board officials.
CSK Software
DANBURY, Conn. - The new $5 million 401(k) plan of CSK Software NA Inc. hired NYL Benefit Services as bundled provider for its new $5 million 401(k) plan. CSK selected eight investment options: Janus Worldwide Fund; T. Rowe Price Small Cap Fund; MainStay Capital Appreciation Fund; MainStay Value Fund; MainStay Indexed Equity Fund; Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund; Dodge & Cox Income Fund; and a New York Life GIC.
Denison University
GRANVILLE, Ohio - Denison University will commit $5 million to the Lone Cedar Limited Hedge Fund, said Michael Horst, manager of financial services.
The off-shore hedge fund is managed by Lone Pine Capital. The board of the $258 million fund still has to determine a source of the funding. The fund doesn't actually open until Jan. 1, Mr. Horst added.
Fund Evaluation Group assisted.
Dow Chemical Co.
MIDLAND, Mich. - The Dow Chemical Co., added four options to its $2 billion defined contribution plan.
Added were: The Equity Income Fund managed by T. Rowe Price; International Bond Fund managed by Fischer, Francis, Trees & Watts; the 60/40 Balanced Fund from Capital Guardian; and the 30/70 Balanced Fund managed by Wellington. The funds help to fill in "some of the gaps" in the plan's investment choices, said Jeff Cush, director of employee benefits. The plan now has a total of 10 options.
The search was completed in-house.
Elder-Beerman Stores
DAYTON, Ohio - Elder-Beerman Stores Corp., selected American Century Investments as bundled provider for its $52 million defined contribution plan. Eight American Century funds will be offered: American Century Income & Growth; Benham Stable Asset Fund; Twentieth Century Ultra; American Century Value; Twentieth Century International Growth; and three American Century lifecycle funds.
Dropped were Fidelity Magellan, Aeltus S&P 500 Index Fund and T. Rowe Price Stable Value Fund. The previous record keeper was William M. Mercer.
IBEW Local 164
HACKENSACK, N.J. - The Joint Annuity Fund of Local Union 164 IBEW hired Putnam as a bundled provider.
The $131 million fund will change vendors Jan. 1, and also will become participant-directed. Putnam will provide five core options in addition to three lifestyle funds. The core options are: Putnam Voyager Fund, Putnam Investors Fund, Putnam U.S. Government Income Fund, George Putnam Growth & Income Fund and Putnam Stable Value Fund. The fund now uses The Bank of New York, Summit Bank, IBEW-NECA GIC and the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust as managers.
Segal assisted.
Illinois Teachers
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Teachers' Retirement System of Illinois assigned $575 million to existing equity managers for its $18 billion fund.
The system will give $50 million to Paradigm Asset Management to manage in core U.S. equities; $200 million to Bank of America in core U.S. equities; $175 million to RCM Capital in core international equities; and $150 million to Ark Asset Management for basic U.S. value equities, said John Day, interim executive director.
Knight-Ridder Inc.
MIAMI - Knight-Ridder Inc. hired Schroder International for emerging markets for its $750 million pension fund, said Clark Weeks, director/actuary.
Schroder will manage a $10 million portfolio.
Funding came from reducing a growth index fund managed by Barclays, which retains $150 million.
Stratford Advisory Group assisted in the change.
Managers Funds
NORWALK, Conn. - The Managers Funds appointed Chartwell Investment Partners co-portfolio manager of the Income Equity Fund. Chartwell replaces Spare, Kaplan & Bischel, which has co-managed the portfolio since 1990, because Managers Fund executives expressed concern about organizational changes at Spare. The Income Equity Fund is a midcap and large-cap value fund.
The Managers Funds also appointed Kern Capital Management L.L.C. fourth co-portfolio manager of Managers' small-cap Special Equity Fund.
Marlin Firearms
NORTH HAVEN, Conn. - Marlin Firearms and The Marlin Co. hired Aeltus Investment Management to manage their defined benefit plans, with combined assets of $15 million for the sibling companies.
Previously, both funds were managed in-house, said Herb Schneider, controller for Marlin Firearms. Other finalists in the search were Frank Russell and Fleet. The balanced portfolio will contain all capitalizations of domestic equity, short-term domestic fixed-income and a small percentage of international equity.
The search was completed in-house.
Melbourne Police Officers
MELBOURNE, Fla. - The City of Melbourne Municipal Police Officers Pension Trust Fund has hired Glickenhaus & Co. to manage its entire $23 million fund, using a balanced investment style, said Tina Casey, secretary to the pension fund. Glickenhaus replaces NationsBank.
The fund also is looking for a new custodian, but no further information was available. Foster & Foster is assisting.
Mobile Police and Fire
MOBILE, Ala. - Mobile Police and Firefighters' Relief Fund hired Lazard Freres as a small-cap equity manager to handle $5 million.
The $50 million fund has yet to finalize the contract and to move the assets from State Street Global's $30 million Russell 3000 index portfolio.
Hannah Group assisted.
New Hampshire State
CONCORD, N.H. - The $3.2 billion New Hampshire State Retirement System committed $10 million to Brand Equity Ventures, a venture capital partnerships, said J.P. Singh, director of finance.
The commitment will be funded from distributions New Hampshire is receiving from other alternative investments, said Mr. Singh.
Brand Equity ventures makes investments in undervalued consumer services companies. The fund has so far received commitments to $78 million and has a $100 million target, said Chris Kinchen, general partner.
New Mexico State Investment
SANTA FE, N.M. - The New Mexico State Investment Council hired Bankers Trust to manage an EAFE index portfolio. The portfolio has not yet been funded, but will total 5% of the endowment's $8.5 billion in assets, said Phil Archibeck, state investment officer.
Mr. Archibeck said active international managers "will be hired down the road."
New York State Teachers
ALBANY, N.Y. - The $58 billion New York State Teachers' Retirement System invested $100 million in the Prudential Real Estate Investors' Strategic Value Investors fund, which recently closed with $685 million.
Candace Ronesi, a fund spokeswoman, said funding comes from cash.
The fund is among eight institutional investors that invested a total of $350 million in the Prudential fund, which will invest alongside Prudential's general account in REITs and the securities of real estate operating companies.
The system also committed to three timberland managers. Wachovia Timberland Investment Management and Forest Investment Associates each will receive $80 million; Xylem Investments will receive $20 million.
The commitments will be fund from cash flow, said Ms. Ronesi.
NFL Player Retirement Plan
WASHINGTON - The Bert Bell/ Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan, Washington, hired Chartwell Investment Partners to manage the $39 million small-cap growth portfolio that had been run by Delaware Management.
Several investment managers left Delaware to form Chartwell in April. After that, the NFL Players Association, which oversees the $500 million pension plan, re-interviewed the portfolio managers who joined Chartwell, as well as managers from Delaware and HLM Management, said Miki Yaras-Davis, director of benefits at the Players Association.
Oklahoma Public Employees'
OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma Public Employees' Retirement System, Oklahoma City, hired RCM Capital Management for a $70 million small-cap equity mandate. The $4 billion system funded the hire from a small-cap equity index portfolio managed by BGI. BGI still manages other assets for the system. Strategic Investment Solutions assisted.
Oklahoma Teachers
OKLAHOMA CITY - The $4.5 billion Oklahoma Teachers' Retirement System, Oklahoma City, hired three small-cap equity managers to invest a combined $235 million. Kopp Investment Advisors will receive $85 million; Denver Investment Advisors, $100 million; and Shapiro Capital Management, $50 million. Funding is from a rebalancing and cash flow, said Tommy Beavers, executive secretary.
Marquette Associates assisted.
Philadelphia Municipal
PHILADELPHIA - The $3.2 billion Philadelphia Municipal Pension Fund committed $1 million to GS Capital, a private equity fund sponsored by Safeguard Scientifics.
The Philadelphia fund will consider an additional $1.5 million commitment to the fund in June 1998, according to minutes of a recent board meeting.
GS Capital will invest in minority-owned franchise opportunities.
Plumbers & Pipefitters
WALLINGFORD, Conn. - Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 777 hired Putnam as a bundled provider for its defined contribution plan.
Putnam will provide three lifestyle funds, Putnam Voyager Fund, Putnam Growth & Income Fund, Putnam Stable Value Fund and Putnam Investors Fund.
Putnam replaces Wright Investors' Service, which had managed the entire $10 million fund in an annuity.
Segal assisted.
Pruco Life Insurance
NEWARK, N.J. - Pruco Life Insurance Co., a subsidiary of the Prudential Insurance Co. of America, added five investment options from external money managers to its new Variable Universal Life Insurance.
They are: the AIM V.I. Value Fund; American Century VP Value Fund; the Janus Growth Portfolio; the MFS Emerging Growth Series; and the International Stock Portfolio.
Quincy Retirement System
QUINCY, Mass. - The Quincy Retirement System hired INVESCO as its first core international equity manager. INVESCO will manage a $15 million portfolio.
The $190 million plan will fund the new manager by trimming its existing domestic equity managers' portfolios, said Edward Masterson, director.
Watson Wyatt assisted.
Rhode Island State
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Rhode Island State Investment Commission, committed a total of $42 million to alternative investments.
The $5.5 billion fund will commit $12 million to OCM Opportunity Fund II, a distressed debt 'and equity fund; $15 million to Wellspring Capital Partners II, a fund that invests in undermanaged or underperforming companies; and $15 million to Harvest Partners II, a fund investing in multinational divestitures. All commitments are subject to contract negotiations. This allocation brings the fund's commitment to alternatives to $156 million; its target is $413 million.
Pacific Corporate Group assisted.
San Diego County
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The San Diego County Employees' Retirement Association, San Diego, hired Mount Lucas Management to run $20 million in passive managed futures and committed $10 million to the Oak Tree Opportunities Fund II, said Robert Snigaroff, investment officer for the $3.3 billion retirement fund.
The $20 million will be linked to the Mount Lucas Management Index, and will be leveraged 2.5 times. The allocation will be run in an overlay strategy, as is the association's existing $140 million in managed futures. The overlay strategy at San Diego County doesn't set aside cash for the allocation, other than for futures margin.
The Oak Tree fund is a distressed debt fund, Mr. Snigaroff said.
St. Louis Carpenters
ST. LOUIS - The Carpenters District Council of Greater St. Louis and Vicinity will invest $120 million in the new Builders ProLoan Mutual Fund distributed by Huntliegh Securities.
Funding will come from the $775 million pension plan's current ProLoan program, which was the inspiration for the mutual fund.
Like the ProLoan program, the mutual fund will specialize in providing loans exclusively for union-built homes. Commerce Bank has been hired as subadviser.
Former controller of Taft-Hartley fund John Stewart will market the new fund for Huntliegh. Julie Laramie will take his place as controller. Previously, she had been his assistant.
St. Paul Teachers
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The $675 million St. Paul Teachers' Retirement System hired Capital Guardian Trust for a $10 million allocation to small-cap international stocks in developed countries.
The system funded the portfolio from a rebalancing of domestic equity holdings, said Eugene R. Waschbusch, secretary and treasurer.
No consultant was used.
Security Benefit Group
TOPEKA, Kan. - Security Benefit Group of Cos. hired Strong Capital Management to manage a new mutual fund, the Security Small Cap Fund for retail investors, as well as a commingled fund version for use in its variable annuity programs.
Ron Ognar heads a team which will use bottom-up stock selection to find companies with expanding unit volumes, rising operating margins and growing market share.
Wichita Retirement
WICHITA, Kan. - The $358 million Wichita Retirement Funds replaced two U.S. equity managers.
The Wichita Employees' Retirement Fund hired WestPeak Investment to run a $40 million core small-cap equity portfolio. The firm replaces Strong Capital, which was terminated. Alan Person, pension manager for the city, would not give the reasons for the termination.
Institutional Capital was hired to run $58 million in a large-cap value equity portfolio for the $310 million Wichita Police & Firemen's' Retirement System. Cowen Asset Management had handled the portfolio, but was terminated for performance reasons, said Mr. Person.
Officials at Cowen were unavailable to comment on the termination.
Callan Associates assisted.
