The $1.2 billion pension fund of Consolidated Rail Corp....

The $1.2 billion pension fund of Consolidated Rail Corp., Philadelphia, hopes to bump up its exposure to foreign equities to 16% of total assets by midyear. The fund also would reduce domestic equities to 42% of total assets, in keeping with the targets set by an asset allocation study in late 1994, said Thomas J. Conroy, director of pension assets. The pension fund has about 14% of its assets in international equities now and 44% in domestic equities. The fund does not plan to hire any new managers; it will simply readjust portfolios of existing managers. Incumbents Capital Guardian and Baring International, which have equal amounts in international equities, will split the new allocation, and pro-rata cuts will be made in domestic equity allocations to Delaware Investment Advisers, Fayez Sarofim, Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder Capital, Concert Capital, Newbold's Asset Management and MacKay-Shields, Mr. Conroy said. The $527 million St. Louis Police Retirement System is undergoing an asset-liability study that probably will result in increased allocations to small-cap and international equities, said Stephen Olish, executive secretary. Currently, the system has an allocation of 45% large-cap equities, 5% small-cap equities, 5% international equities and 45% fixed income. Increased allocations probably would be given to existing managers, Mr. Olish said. Mississippi Valley Advisors manages its small-cap allocation, and Putnam manages its international allocation. SEI is assisting with the study, which should be completed in February. The C$84 million (U.S. $61.3 million) Simon Fraser University union employee pension fund, Burnaby, British Columbia, is considering increasing its 5.6% international allocation, said Alan Black, manager-pension and benefits. He said the timetable for making a decision was uncertain. The fund now has 5.6% of its assets in U.S. and non-North American equities. Virginia Reynolds Parker, former managing director of research and risk management at Ferrell Capital Management, has formed Parker Global Strategies. The Stamford, Conn., firm will allocate assets to outside niche managers in non-traditional global investments. Among the asset classes - foreign exchange, commodities and global equity and fixed income. The firm plans to introduce three products this year: single-manager funds, multimanager sector funds and foreign exchange interbank trading services. Primus Capital Advisors, SEI Corp.'s Canadian investment unit, is set to offer three new funds this year, all using derivatives, but with returns linked to broad investment indexes. One is an enhanced bond index fund that will combine Canadian bond returns with the alpha return from a global bond portfolio, said Stephen Donihee, president. The others are a straight S&P 500 Index fund and an EAFE Index fund, he said. Both will use futures contracts and Canadian Treasury bills to allow funds to invest more than 20% of their assets in non-Canadian securities, a limitation set by Canadian tax rules. Primus has selected a single manager for the three funds, but Mr. Donihee declined to name it because contracts haven't been signed. Separately, Primus has four finalists in its search for a record keeper for a defined contribution offering expected later this year. Also, Elliot & Page was selected as manager of Primus' money market fund, he said. Hoyt & Co. purchased two Chase Manhattan Bank subsidiaries in charge of the Global Bond Allocation Fund, a derivatives manager-of-managers fund that will seek the fixed-income returns of the markets of the G-7 countries. Chase stopped marketing the fund early last year after it decided to get out of the futures business. Terms were not disclosed. Charles Hoyt, president, said he worked as a consultant for Chase, assisting in marketing the fund to pension funds in Puerto Rico. He said the goal is to raise $100 million. He said he will try to retain the managers Chase originally selected, but he declined to name them. Mr. Hoyt declined to discuss specifics because he said the fund is in registration. Trustees of the $445 million Kansas City (Mo.) Public School Retirement System hired two money managers to invest more than $85 million, confirmed Paul Ballard, executive director. Bankers Trust Global Investment Management will invest $37.5 million in a Russell 2500 index fund; Denver Investment Advisers will invest $48 million in a multistrategy bond portfolio. The money allocated to Bankers Trust comes from Weiss, Peck & Greer, which managed core small- and midcap portfolios for the fund; WP&G will continue to manage a large-cap core portfolio for the system, said Mr. Ballard. Denver's allocation will be funded from termination of a core bond portfolio also managed by WP&G. A fixed-income study determined that the fund was underweighted in corporate bonds and that its core bond portfolio should be consolidated with one manager, Atlantic Portfolio Analytics & Management, Mr. Ballard said