Financial Times Mandate articles from December 2002

Financial Times Mandate archives from December 2002

News: Illinois Teachers expels four as it puts $3.7bn out to tender.(Illinois Teachers' Retirement System)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... The Illinois Teachers' Retirement System has dropped four managers and appointed six new ones in a shake-up aimed at increasing equities and alternatives and raising performance. At the same time it has put $3.7bn in indexed bond and equity...

News: Frank Russell scores a hat-trick in Europe's multi-manager field.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Frank Russell Company has scooped three multi-manager mandates totalling e225m from investors in Belgium and the Netherlands. The largest mandate was a e175m equity and bond portfolio awarded by the e350m Stichting Pensioenfonds Gamma...

News: Swedish bonds up for grabs in 2003.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Sweden's second national pension fund (AP2) is set to outsource part of its SKr46bn (E5bn) bond allocation next year. The SKr120bn fund currently manages all its fixed income allocation and part of its equities in-house. Petter Odhnoff,...

News: US pension funds desert JPMorgan.(JPMorgan Asset Management)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... JPMorgan Asset Management has lost $2.7bn in US pension business in the wake of staff departures and declining performance. The $18bn State of Connecticut Trust Fund has terminated the company's $680m bond mandate and a $1.35bn enhanced S&P...

Editorial: Looking beyond the pessimistic predictions.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Few tears may be shed as 2002 draws to a close, but it is also unlikely that institutions will be breaking open the champagne to ring in what should continue to be an uncertain future for investment returns. Pummelled by persistent equity...

News: In brief - Warning bells as funds alight bond-wagon.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Pension funds that have invested all their money in bonds are making the assumption that GDP will grow at only 3.5 per cent per annum for the next 10 years, Mark Pignatelli, chief investment officer at Schroders has warned. But companies...

News: In brief - Irish-based BGI fund linked to FTSE UK gilts.(Barclays Global Investors)(Ascent UK Real Return Bond Fund)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has launched an actively managed index-linked bond fund, the Ascent UK Real Return Bond Fund, which combines traditional government and corporate index-linked bonds with swaps and derivatives. The fund is also...

News: In brief - Beauchamp to supply software to Angelo.(Beauchamp Financial Technology)(Angelo, Gordon and Co.)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Angelo, Gordon & Co, a New-York based alternative asset management firm, has chosen Beauchamp Financial Technology to provide its portfolio management software. The software will provide Angelo with integrated trading, portfolio management...

News: In brief - Diageo withdraws mandate from MLIM.(Merrill Lynch Investment Managers)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Staff turmoil and performance trouble have cost Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) a GBP280m UK equity mandate with Diageo's pension fund. Graeme Robertson, the UK pensions director of the drinks giant, confirmed that Glasgow...

News: In brief - Transparency to be enforced by IAIM.(Irish Association of Investment Managers)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Institutional fund managers in Ireland will next year have to supply pension funds with a detailed breakdown of all costs incurred. The move follows a new code prepared by the Irish Association of Investment Managers (IAIM), the industry...

News: In brief - CLARIFICATION.
December 16, 2002... FT Mandate's third-party animals wish to assure Lord Abbett that no offence was intended in a diary story titled "Lord Abbett needs Glasnost", which appeared in the December 2 issue. We would like to clarify that the mention of 15 phone...

News: Santa Fe $65m in private equity.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... New Mexico State Investment Council in Santa Fe has committed $65m to private equity in three new mandates. Its two major funds - the Land Grant Permanent Fund and the Severance Tax Permanent Fund - have together awarded $25m to Avenue...

News: Russell switches from Perpetual to Perennial.(Frank Russell Co.)(Perennial Value Management)(Perpetual Investment Advisory Service Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Frank Russell has terminated a A$450m (e250m) mandate with Perpetual Investments on its Russell Australian shares fund and appointed Perennial Value Management. Frank Russell managing director Alan Schoenheimer said the departure of Peter...

News: Tower Hamlets moves oe40m into Seput.(London Borough of Tower Hamlets' Pension Fund )(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... The GBP358m London Borough of Tower Hamlets' Pension Fund has said it is selling its direct property portfolio and switching its GBP40m allocation to the GBP1.2bn Schroder Exempt Property Unit Trust (Seput). The transition will be effected...

News: Managerial line-up changes at Insight.(Insight Investment Management Inc.)
December 16, 2002... Insight Investment has announced new managerial appointments following its acquisition of Rothschild Asset Management (RAM) for GBP61m. Gary Mairs, previously managing director of Insight, has been promoted to deputy chief executive and...

Comment and Analysis: Investors look to a poorer year ahead.
December 16, 2002... It has been another turbulent year for the financial industry with market volatility and poor returns continuing to plague investors. Underperformance continues to persist in the equity markets and the global economy has failed to make a...

News: Mutual funds reach China via Fortis.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Fortis Investment Management, the asset management arm of the Belgium-based Fortis Group, has joined forces with China-based Haitong Securities to offer mutual funds to Chinese retail investors following a new joint venture. The joint...

News: Frontier finds $7m fortune in California.(Frontier Capital Management)(California's University of the Pacific)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Frontier Capital Management, the Boston-based investment management firm, has won a $7m US mid-cap endowment fund mandate from California's University of the Pacific. Larry Brehm, assistant vice-president for business and finance at the...

News: Environment Agency joins green party.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... The UK Environment Agency's pension fund has decided to invest in a new "green" index fund, managed by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA). The fund will be based on specialised company and industry research provided by Innovest Strategic...

News: Redundancies may follow Insight takeover of RAM.(Insight Investment Management Inc.)(Rothschild Asset Management)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Large-scale job lay-offs could result from the acquisition by Insight Investment of Rothschild Asset Management (RAM). Despite its talk of good "synergies" between the two companies, Insight has admitted that jobs will have to go and has...

News: In brief - Boots dispenses with plans to adopt FRS17.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Boots, the UK retail chemist, has reversed its decision to become an early adopter of the new pension fund accounting standard FRS17. The move, announced in the group's October half-year results, comes as some surprise - given its...

News: In brief - Onshore hedge funds in France in the offing.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... The launch of onshore hedge funds in France looks increasingly likely, according to the newly-appointed head of La Commission des Operations de Bourse (COB), the French stock market regulator. Jean-Francois Lepetit told delegates at a...

News: Frank Russell to run British Waterways oe80m multi-fund.
December 16, 2002... British Waterways has moved about half its pension fund assets into multi- manager equity and bond funds run by Frank Russell Company. The group, which manages a network of waterways and canals, said it chose Frank Russell for the GBP80m...

News: Midlands bumps up UK bonds portion.(West Midlands Metropolitan Authorities Pension Fund)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... The West Midlands Metropolitan Authorities GBP4bn Pension Fund has increased its investment in UK non-government bonds with a mandate awarded to Royal London Asset Management. The new GBP130m portfolio, which accounts for 3.25 per cent of...

News: Schroders holds onto clients.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Schroders executives have said that business is "moving very clearly in the right direction" following results showing the firm has not lost any institutional clients in the last quarter or in October. Despite this, the firm made a loss of...

How the deal was won: Powys assumes aggressive style.(Powys County Council pension fund)(AXA Roseberg Investment Management L.L.C.)(Alliance Bernstein)(Western Asset Management Co.)
December 16, 2002... Breaking into the notoriously impenetrable UK local authority market can prove a daunting challenge for any fund manager. However, Axa Rosenberg Investment Management has managed to secure its first UK local authority mandate worth E16m...

Custody, Settlement and Technology News: Sophis supplies Axa with risk solution.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Increasing demands from regulators and investors have prompted Axa Investment Managers to implement a new portfolio and risk management solution from Sophis. Value, launched by Sophis at the beginning of the year, will enable Axa to...

Custody, Settlement and Technology News: Instinet retains top UK ranking.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Instinet, the global electronic agency securities broker, this month kept its place as the number one UK execution broker, according to an annual industry survey of institutional trading costs. Plexus Group compared actual execution costs...

Custody, Settlement and Technology News: Northern Trust 'superior' IT snares $800m brief.
December 16, 2002... US advisory firm Summit Investment Partners has dropped US Bank in favour of Northern Trust as custodian for $800m in mutual funds because of the latter's "superior" IT. Global Fund Services, Northern Trust's custody arm, will provide...

Custody, Settlement and Technology News: FXall adds four to client list.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... FXall, the global portal for online foreign exchange trading, has this month [December] signed up four new banks to its platform. The latest additions - Common-wealth Bank of Australia, Fortis Bank, SvenskaHandelsbanken and WestLB - bring...

Custody, Settlement and Technology News: In brief - RBC signs up to SecFinex electronic trading platform.(RBC Global Services)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... RBC Global Services, the institutional and investor services arm of the Royal Bank of Canada, has acquired a licence to use the web-based securities lending trading system of SecFinex, an online marketplace for securities finance. RBC...

Custody, Settlement and Technology News: In brief - Beauchamp deal offers PMA Eastern promise.(PMA Investment Advisors)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... PMA Investment Advisors, which recently launched a new hedge fund in Asia, has chosen software from Beauchamp Financial Technology for its portfolio management. Beauchamp, which provides software solutions and services to traditional and...

News Analysis: Norway Petroleum Fund - Norway in market for new managers.
December 16, 2002... Asset managers offering inflation-linked bonds and alternative investments will be glad to hear that the tender-happy Norway Petroleum Fund is to move into these asset classes. Currently the NKr604bn (E83bn) fund invests only in traditional...

People News: Fixed income to flourish at Lazard.(Lazard Asset Management Ltd.)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Lazard Asset Management has poached two fixed income managers and three of their staff from Offitbank, the wealth management arm of Wachovia. Steven Blitz, former chief strategist for Offitbank's $4bn core and core plus mandates, has taken...

People News: 'Poor performance' prompts Clarke exit.(Ian Clarke, Deutsche Asset Management)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Ian Clarke, chief investment officer for fixed income at Deutsche Asset Management in the UK has left the firm by mutual agreement following a disappointing performance from his global bond portfolios, it is understood. Mr Clarke, whose...

People News: MLIM reshuffles key personnel.(Peter Gibbs, Merrill Lynch Investment Managers)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Peter Gibbs, head and chief operating officer at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers' (MLIM) non-US operations, is to take over from Brian Murdock as chief investment officer for the region in a reshuffle of MLIM executives. The changes...

People News: Innovest fails to meet expectations.(Neil Marsh, Innovest Strategic Advisors)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Neil Marsh has resigned as European managing director of socially responsible investment (SRI) firm Innovest Strategic Advisors after less than 10 months in the post. Mr Marsh, who set up the UK office of the US research and advice firm in...

People News: Bertoni picked for Pioneer promotion.(Raffaele Bertoni)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Pioneer Investment Management's Dublin office has promoted Raffaele Bertoni from senior portfolio manager for investment grade corporate bonds to head of fixed income. His appointment completes a reshuffle of the office's fixed income...

Portfolio Asset Allocation: Europe - Powys invests in information science.(Powys County Council selects Axa Rosenberg Investment Management for fund management)
December 16, 2002... Researchers fearing for their jobs will take little comfort from Axa Rosenberg Investment Management's GBP16m (e25m) win from Powys County Council. The fund manager does not use analysts, instead relying on its state-of-the- art IT system...

Portfolio Asset Allocation: Asia-Pacific - BUSS Q steers growth in global equities.(Building Unions Superannuation Scheme Queensland construction industry super fund)
December 16, 2002... Nicholas Applegate, the $18bn growth manager, now part of the worldwide German insurer Allianz, is one of three managers to supplant the incumbent Suncorp Metway Investment Management, in winning a mandate from Building Unions Superannuation...

Portfolio Asset Allocation: Americas - CalPERS rewards 'star' $400m bonus.(California Public Employees Retirement System)
December 16, 2002... When Arrowstreet Capital caught the eye of the US's largest pension fund two and a half years ago the company was a start-up with only one client. Now Arrowstreet boasts $3.1bn under management and 16 clients comprising mainly US pension...

Portfolio: Market Analysis - View from Europe - Recognising new opportunities in emerging markets.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Though we have the occasional respite in global equity markets, the long-term prognosis still looks grim. Global equities are in a secular bear market. Meanwhile, many pension funds are underfunded and facing a dearth of high yielding asset...

Portfolio: Market Analysis - View from the Americas - The good, the not so good and the downright awful.(the US economy is recovering, but a double-dip recession could occur)
December 16, 2002... The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the title of one of Clint Eastwood's famous spaghetti westerns, captures the ess- ence of the range of forecasts for next year. The economic environment is on the path to recovery, and its impact on stock...

Portfolio: Market Analysis - View from Asia-Pacific - Robust Asian economies set the pace of growth rates.
December 16, 2002... Economies in the Asia ex-Japan region have shown continued resilience in recent months, despite global uncertainty. GDP growth for the region will be around 6 per cent for 2002, compared with around 2.2 per cent this year in the US, just...

Mandate Research: Information Technology - Straight-through processing - Focus shifts to improving STP after T+1 deadline is ditched.
December 16, 2002... Straight-through processing (STP) has been viewed as a financial Holy Grail for more than a decade - the complete automation of the clearing and settlement process. New trade initiatives and software developments continue to keep STP at...

Mandate Research: Information Technology - Straight-through processing - Collapse of GSTPA blamed on abandonment of T+1.(Global Straight Through Processing Association)
December 16, 2002... The Global Straight Through Processing Association (GSTPA) was an industry initiative to achieve STP through a global trade management system. Comprised of 41 member firms, it was created in 2000 and went live in September 2002. However, after...

Mandate Research: Regional Survey - Foreign exchange trading - Cutting the cost of FX trading.
December 16, 2002... Pension funds could make significant savings by paying more attention to the rates they are charged on foreign currency transactions. According to a joint study by Mercer Investment Consulting and Record Currency Management, foreign currency is...

Outsourcing: Meeting the global challenge.
December 16, 2002... The business of outsourcing is undergoing a process of rapid, radical and evolutionary change. Not so long ago, outsourcing simply involved a third- party provider taking on a set of processes from the client and replicating - and more...

Mandate Research: Battle of the benchmarks - Index differentiation - Vying for attention in an overcrowded market.
December 16, 2002... As index providers continue to roll out new global equity benchmarks in response to rising interest in international investing, index provision is becoming an increasingly commoditised service, according to Marianne Huve- Allard, director of...

Mandate Research: Battle of the benchmarks - Index differentiation - A sustainable new asset class for the future.
December 16, 2002... Over the past two years, the concept of sustainability has made significant inroads into mainstream asset management. The integration of long-term economic, environmental and social criteria is moving up the agenda in financial markets. In...

Australian coalition backs boutique manager start-up.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Boutique fund managers are again the flavour of the day in Australia, with at least two high-profile names flagging the launch of new firms in the new year. Tim Ryan, former chief investment officer with Credit Suisse Asset Management in...

Martin Currie adds to alternative pool.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Martin Currie, the Edinburgh-based asset manager, is to next year launch a private equity fund of funds. The group already runs a GBP100m private equity fund of funds - the Murray Capital Return investment trust. But Hamish Mair, head...

Shropshire introduces SRI strategy.(socially responsible investments)(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Shropshire County Council Pension Fund has appointed State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) to manage an GBP80m UK index portfolio with a socially responsible overlay. The move follows a decision by the council to become more socially...

Third-party animals: Managers 'young at heart'.(Brief Article)
December 16, 2002... Now, off to bed quickly, or Santa won't bring you any mandates. This is probably the message Norway's petroleum fund will be putting in its Christmas cards to asset managers. In an interview with the media-shy fund at the end of last month,...

Conferences.
December 16, 2002... - Transfer Agency Forum, Dublin, Ireland, January 29-30 2003 Two-day course run by IIR Finance Contact: +44 (0)20 7915 5055 - Mastering the Request for Proposal, Geneva, Switzerland, February 24-25, 2003 Two-day course run by...