Investment Management Weekly articles from December 2003

Investment Management Weekly archives from December 2003

Execs Plot Changes in 2004.
December 8, 2003... Nearly four out of five senior executives from 123 financial service firms expect a significant revamp their organizations over the next five years, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Economist Intelligence Unit. ...

Texan 911 Eye Int'l Stock, Global Bonds, Consultant.
December 8, 2003... The $1.2 billion San Antonio Police & Fire Pension Fund may be gearing up to launch international equity and global fixed-income searches, as well as a consultant search in the coming months. According to minutes from the plan's Oct. 28...

Cali. Plan Watches AllianceBernstein, Wraps Study.
December 8, 2003... The investment committee of the $4 billion Sacramento County Employees' Retirement System will discuss the fate of its passive equity manager AllianceBernstein Institu-tional Investment and mull the results of its latest asset liability...

Nelson's Ranks World's Best Money Managers.
December 8, 2003... Accolades for what it calls the "World's Best Money Managers" for the year ending Sept. 30, 2003, have been announced by Nelson's MarketPlaceWeb.com. Leading the pack in U.S. equity, all styles, was Insight Capital Research & Management,...

El Paso Plots Large-Cap Search.
December 8, 2003... The $435 million El Paso Firemen & Policemen's Pension Fund will kick off 2004 with a comprehensive review of its large-cap manager lineup, a process that could result in a large-cap manager search, El Paso Pension Administrator Robert Stanton...

Virginia Plan to Act On Liability Study.
December 8, 2003... The $640 million Newport News Employees Retirement Plan will review the results of its most recent asset liability study this month, said LaVerne Lovett, director of finance for the Virginia-based plan. The study, which was launched in...

CalPERS Ups Enhanced Equity Picks.
December 8, 2003... The planned exposure to domestic enhanced index investments for the $145 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System has swelled to as much as 20% of its global equity holdings, and a start date for manager searches has been set for...

Vermont Plans Face Possible Consolidation.
December 8, 2003... Next year could bring significant changes to Vermont's retirement system, as the state considers consolidating its three pension plans-the Vermont State Employees' Retirement System, the Vermont State Teachers Retirement System and the Vermont...

Milwaukee Names Five in Int'l Search.
December 8, 2003... The $4.2 billion Milwaukee Employees' Retirement System is contemplating a list of five finalists in a search for a $253 million international equities manager, Milwaukee Investment Officer Jennifer Shannon said. Artisan Partners Ltd.,...

Marathon to Run $90m For Memphis.
December 8, 2003... The $1.8 billion Memphis City Retirement System has hired Marathon Asset Management to oversee an active international value equity account worth approximately $90 million, Memphis City Senior Fund Officer Joseph Lee said. Assets to fund...

Senate Blocks Pension Deficit Relief Bill.
December 8, 2003... A bill that has the potential to save companies billions of dollars in pension contributions suffered a setback when it fell victim to last minute political jostling in the Senate. Recent estimates by Credit Suisse First Boston put the...

CalSTRS Spurns NYSE Board Seat Offer.
December 8, 2003... The California State Teachers' Retirement System has passed on the opportunity to be a part of the NYSE board, citing the potential for conflict and risk as reasons for rejecting the opportunity. Institutional investors are lending New York...

Industry Group Creates Valuation Guidelines.
December 8, 2003... A coalition of industry professionals has released a set of private equity valuation guidelines in an effort to improve the comparability and transparency of private equity valuations. The U.S. Private Equity Valuation Guidelines, produced...

More Companies Self-Police Internal Fraud.
December 8, 2003... New regulations and investor scrutiny have led an increasing number of companies to go after fraud within their own ranks, a recent study found. Roughly three-quarters of respondents discovered fraud within their organizations during the...

Overlay Strategy Presents a Solution to a Taxing Problem.
December 8, 2003... Plan sponsors attending any number of institutional investor conferences this year likely heard the term "overlay-strategy" used more than once, usually as part of a list of strategies that would help ensure actuarial solvency such as...

Small Caps Hold Promise for Fiduciary Trust's Lindsay.
December 8, 2003... Margaret Lindsay, executive VP and senior portfolio manager for international small-cap equities at Fiduciary Trust International is something of a talent scout. On any given day, Lindsay is busy personally treading through the developing...

fEconomy to Pick up in 2004.
December 15, 2003... The year 2004 is on track to be the best year economically in the last 20 years, the Conference Board forecasted last week. The board projected gross domestic product growth to hit 5.7% next year-a two decade high. Worker productivity,...

IPERS Launches Massive Equity Search.
December 15, 2003... The $14 billion Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System has put its $585 million risk-controlled European account up for grabs, an account that was previously managed by Putnam Investments. The plan also will follow up with a search for a...

Big Apple Retirement Makes Move on TIPS.
December 15, 2003... The retirement plans within the New York City Retirement System have finally issued a request for proposals (RFP) for managers to oversee allocations to Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS). The system's consideration of the TIPS...

San Joaquin to Probe Fraught Managers.
December 15, 2003... The $1.5 billion San Joaquin County Employees' Retirement Association is checking out small-cap growth managers and will meet with its international equity manager in the coming weeks to discuss its future with the plan. Plan Administrator...

Utility Ramps Study, Searches Possible.
December 15, 2003... The $6.2 billion Fairfax County Water Authority Retirement System will kick off the New Year with an asset liability study, a process that could lead to manager searches, the county's Director of Finance Steve Edgemon said. He could not...

Va. Plan Seeks Smid-Cap, Putnam Filler.
December 15, 2003... The $755 million Norfolk Employees' Retirement System is searching for a manager to oversee a $50 million small- to mid-cap account and will shortly decide on what to do with assets previously managed by Putnam Investments, the CIO of the...

Wisconsin Braces For Search Directives.
December 15, 2003... In an effort to counter decreased investment return assumptions, manager searches could be in store for the separate entities of the $60 billion State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), said Julie Reneau, board administrator. The SWIB...

Mass. Muni Plans Eye Real Estate.
December 15, 2003... The $375 million Norfolk County Retirement System and the $64 million Watertown Retirement System have launched separate searches for managers to oversee their respective "stabilized/income-oriented real estate" accounts. Jeff Fabrizio,...

Milliman Tops Segal For Actuary Spot.
December 15, 2003... The $270 million Norwalk Employees' Pension System has hired Milliman USA as its new actuary, said Frederic Gilden, senior fund officer for the Conn.-based plan. The decision to hire Milliman marked the end of a decade-long relationship...

Behler, Value Team Resurface at Chartwell.
December 15, 2003... Richard Behler, former managing director at Morgan Stanley Investment Management will join Chartwell Investment Partners as a managing partner and senior portfolio manager of large-cap value, according to a statement released to IMW on Dec. 8....

Treasury Manager Hires New Senior VP.
December 15, 2003... In a move to develop business in the Southern California region, Capital Advisors Grouphas appointed Kathleen Borie as its senior VP of business development. Borie, who was most recently the director of emerging company services at...

Goldman Taps Private Equity Chairman.
December 15, 2003... Goldman Sachs Asset Management has appointed Philip Cooper chairman of its private equity fund-of-funds group, a new position. Cooper, has been head of the $11 billion fund group for eight years and manages the firm's roster of 140...

Marketers Should Refresh The Term "Risk".
December 15, 2003... Could the recent trading scandals involving managers such as Putnam Investments, Alliance Capital, and Morgan Stanley Asset Management been discovered sooner, or even avoided? Douglas Klein, director of investor education services for the...

New Study Reveals Changing Pension Landscape.
December 15, 2003... Defined-benefit (DB) pension plans may be shrinking in number as employers shift the burden of retirement savings to employees, but DB plans remain a mammoth in the investment world, representing approximately $1.6 trillion in assets and over...

Finance, Science Merge for First Quadrant's Darnell.
December 15, 2003... The fields of speculative finance and objective science are not the oil and vinegar one might imagine when considering a blend of the two for the purpose of market analysis, said Max Darnell, a partner, chief investment officer, and director of...

Outlook Rosy for S&P 500.
December 22, 2003... The Standard & Poor's 500 index should soar to 1160 by the middle of next year, according to Standard & Poor's 2004 Annual Forecast. Lofted by an anticipated growth rate for the U.S. economy of 4.7% in 2004, the benchmark should find its...

MassPRIM Primed for Multiple Searches.
December 22, 2003... The $27.9 billion Massachusetts Pension Reserve Investment Management Board is positioned to search for additional real-estate, timber, and emerging market debt managers in 2004, said Karen Sharma, spokeswoman for Massachusetts Treasurer Tim...

PERFI Seeks Small-Cap, Transition Manager.
December 22, 2003... The $12 billion Public Employees' Retirement Fund of Indiana is finalizing the a request for proposals (RFP) for a $200 million small-cap growth manager, PERFI spokesman Patrick Lane said. An RFP for transition management will also be made...

LACERA Ups Private Equity Allocation.
December 22, 2003... The roughly $32 billion Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement Association (LACERA) will up its private equity investments by $600 million, almost tripling its investments in the asset class, according to a new asset allocation plan adopted...

Ex-Alger Vice Chair Gets Jail Time.
December 22, 2003... The New York Supreme Court, on Dec. 17, sentenced former Fred Alger Management Vice Chairman James Connelly to one- to three-years in prison for tampering market-timing evidence. Connelly, who paid $400,000 to the Securities and Exchange...

Int'l Equity Searches To Come in St. Louis.
December 22, 2003... The $900 million St. Louis Public School Retirement System will decide whether to search for one or more international equity managers, the Missouri plan's executive director Gail Lakin said. As much as $90 million could potentially go up...

County Plan Preps For Possible Changes.
December 22, 2003... The $304 million Barnstable County Retirement System is in the midst of an actuarial study that could result in changes to the plan, the executive director of the Massachusetts plan Deborah Revoir said. Segal Advisors, the plan's...

Billion$ Await Alt. Mgrs. in Minnesota.
December 22, 2003... The $43 billion Minnesota State Board of Investments (SBI) will invest approximately $1.1 billion to alternative investments in the not too distant future, said SBI Senior Fund Officer Howard Bicker said. The new allocation was added for...

LA Utility Ponders Managers' Fate.
December 22, 2003... Board members of the roughly $6 billion Los Angeles Water and Power Employees' Retirement Plan have voted to retain Fred Alger Management as its large-cap growth manager, but came to a stalemate in deciding on the fate of its international...

Washington State Pick Transition Finalists.
December 22, 2003... The $54 billion Washington State Investment Board has named Barclays Global Investors, State Street Corporation, and the team of Frank Russell Company & Goldman, Sachs & Co. as finalists in its transition manager search, Investment Board...

New Mexico Fund Taps High Yield Mgr.
December 22, 2003... The $6.2 billion New Mexico Educational Retirement Board has hired the Post Advisory Group to oversee a $300 million high yield fixed-income mandate, the plan's CIO Frank Foy said. The plan's consultant, Eileen Neill of Wilshire Associates,...

Missouri SERS Plots Course For Real Estate.
December 22, 2003... The $5.2 billion Missouri State Employees' Retirement System has allocated funds in the range of $182 million for real-estate managers bearing attractive deals, the plan's CIO Rick Dahl said. The plan is free to invest in real-estate...

Halliburton Under Fire for Terror Link.
December 22, 2003... New York City Comptroller, William Thompson, on behalf of the New York City Fire Department Pension Fund and the New York City Police Pension Fund, has resubmitted a shareholder proposal, calling once again on Houston-based oil company,...

New Small-Cap Firm on the Block.
December 22, 2003... Mary Lisanti, former CIO of ING Investments, has forged an alliance with Boston-based institutional investment bank Adams, Harkness & Hill (AHH), to launch AH Lisanti Capital Growth Asset Management, a small-cap growth boutique. The New...

Peregrine Capital's Tasso Coin Feeds off Value Opportunity.
December 22, 2003... When it comes to picking ideal small-cap opportunities, Tasso Coin, the manager of small-cap value strategies for Peregrine Capital Management, starts with a simple formula that allows him to spot value stocks without any inherent bias. ...