Investment Management Weekly articles from February 2004

Investment Management Weekly archives from February 2004

S&P Expands Evaluations.
February 2, 2004... Standard & Poor's last week announced it will add U. S. taxable securities evaluations as a new component of the its Securities Evaluations business at the end of the first quarter. The new offering will include high grade, high yield,...

Indiana PERF Plots Small-Cap Search.
February 2, 2004... The $12 billion Indiana Public Employees' Retirement Fund has launched a search for a manager to oversee a $260 million small-cap growth account. The account will be benchmarked against the Russell 2000 Growth Index. Calls to Craig...

Wyoming Retirement Puts $300m Up For Grabs.
February 2, 2004... The $4.1 billion Wyoming Retirement System has decided to launch a search for a manager to oversee its $300 million international large-cap growth account. The account is currently being managed by Putnam Investments. Thomas Mann, plan...

Wyo. State Kicks 0ff $150m Search.
February 2, 2004... The Wyoming State Permanent Fund -the general fund for Wyoming's operating costs-is searching for a $150 million active non-U.S. developed market or non-U.S. developed and emerging market manager, State Treasury Representative Sharon Garland...

Santa Barbara County Place Three on Watch.
February 2, 2004... The $1.3 billion Santa Barbara County Employees' Retirement System placed Bank of Ireland Asset Management on watch for performance issues on its $116 million EAFE account. Bank of Ireland, which was placed on watch during the plan's...

AARP Searching for Small-Cap, Int'l Equity.
February 2, 2004... The $220 million employee pension plan of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) will search for a small-cap value manager to run as much as 10% of the plan's total value, or approximately $22 million. The plan will also search for...

Texas Mulls Changes, Searches Possible.
February 2, 2004... The board of the $18 billion Employees' Retirement System of Texas is examining the results of an asset allocation and liability study, which could result in searches for real estate and private equity managers. The system's consultant,...

R.I. Guns & Hoses Plan Plots Searches.
February 2, 2004... The investment committee of the $25 million Cranston Fire and Police Pension fund will embark on an asset allocation study, which could result in new additions to the plan's money manager lineup, said Jerome Baron, finance director of the Rhode...

Nebraska Searches For New Consultant.
February 2, 2004... The $5.6 billion Nebraska Public Employees' Retirement System has launched a search for a new investment consultant-a move that could potentially replace incumbent, Wilshire Associates-according to sources familiar with the Nebraska plan. ...

Ameritas Re-assigns MFS Account.
February 2, 2004... The employee retirement plan of the $213 million Ameritas Life Insurance Corporation has liquidated three accounts previously managed in a sub-advisory capacity by MFS Investment Management and merged them into a large-cap growth account...

Pennsylvania County Plan Hires Four.
February 2, 2004... The $70 million County of Butler Retirement System has added four new managers to its lineup. Jack McMillan, senior fund officer, said that the plan hired Cooke & Bieler to oversee a large-cap value account; Gardner Lewis Asset Management...

Philly Board Nears Small-Cap Decision.
February 2, 2004... The investment committee of the $5.3 billion Philadelphia Board of Pensions & Retirement has selected four finalists for its small-cap value manager search. Chris McDonough, the plan's investment officer said that the board will interview....

Penn SERS Adds More Hedge Funds.
February 2, 2004... Last year, investors pumped $60 billion into the hedge fund market and the state of Pennsylvania is getting on the action. The $24 billion Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System is looking to boost its hedge fund allocations, Sean...

Pa. Pension Official Ordered Arrested.
February 2, 2004... Legal disputes regarding the $142 million Luzerne County Retirement Board continued last week, resulting in a bench warrant being issued for county Controller Steve Flood. A Luzerne County judge issued the warrant after Flood failed to...

Greenwich: Don't Skimp On Alternatives, Beware The Big Hedge Fund.
February 2, 2004... Institutional investors should take heed that having "cold feet" when it comes to entering the realm of alternative investments may jeopardize the returns promised by the increasingly popular alternative investment vehicles, according to a...

SEC Issues Consultant Probe, Industry Reacts to "Pay-to-Play".
February 2, 2004... The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is once again cracking its whip against possible conflicts of interest in the financial markets, this time focusing on consulting firms that service the pension fund industry. Last month, the...

Unique Techniques Spell Alpha for First Quadrant.
February 2, 2004... Chris Luck, the director of equity portfolio management at First Quadrant, has the rare advantage of having two lesser-used techniques at his disposal-a proactive, tax-conscious investment strategy, and a top-down approach to stock picking. ...

Odds & Ends.
February 2, 2004... *New York City Comptroller William Thompson last week filed shareholder proposals with ExxonMobil on behalf of three New York City Retirement Systems - Police, Fire, and Teachers. In the filings, Thomson urged the company to implement the...

Clarification.
February 2, 2004... In the Jan.19 issue of IMW, the name of the consultant in the "OPERS Plots Multiple Searches in 04" story was misstated. Ennis Knupp + Associates is the plan's general consultant.

Clouds Part for Private Equity.
February 9, 2004... Private equity posted positive one-year returns for the first time since 2000, according to Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association. Private equity brought in a 1.3% return for the 12 months ending Sept. 30,...

MassPRIM Plots Venture Cap, Buyout Searches.
February 9, 2004... The $32 billion Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board has carved out an allocation of up to $800 million for venture capital and buyout funds, said Stan Mavromates, deputy CIO. Mavromates could not speculate on the...

Vermont Plans Positioned to Shed Managers.
February 9, 2004... The fate of every manager currently handling assets for the $2.8 billion Vermont State Employees' Retirement System, the $171 million Vermont Municipal Employees' Retirement System, and the $1.1 billion State Teachers' Retirement System will be...

ERISA Plan Plots for Private Equity Real Estate.
February 9, 2004... Rockwell Collins, the Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based aviation and technology company, is considering searches for alternative investments such as private equity, and real estate, the company's treasurer Doug Stenske said. Stenske said the...

Austin Cops Mull P.E., Real Estate.
February 9, 2004... The investment committee of the $262 million Austin Police Retirement Fund is considering searching for private equity and real estate managers. Sampson Jordan, the plan's senior fund officer, said the impetus for the potential searches...

CalSTRS Investigates Int'l Private Equity.
February 9, 2004... The $113 billion California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) will begin to explore private equity investments in regions where it has never invested before; across Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Should the fund adopt...

Gotham to Search for Real Estate Consultant.
February 9, 2004... The $94 billion New York City Retirement System has launched a search for a core real estate consultant to assist four of the Big Apple retirement plans in fulfilling a new allocation to the asset class. The deadline for responding to the...

Santa Barbara Studies Asset Allocation.
February 9, 2004... The $1.3 billion Santa Barbara County Employees' Retirement System will review the results of a new asset liability study next month, a move that Senior Fund Officer Oscar Peters said "could result in manager changes." Peters would not...

Minnesota Ponders Milliman's Future.
February 9, 2004... The Commission on Pensions and Retirement for the $43 billion Minnesota State Board of Investment will decide this week whether to search for a new actuary, state board staffer Lisa Diesslin said. Milliman USA's, contract is nearing the end...

Consultant Pro Bolts to Pension Outsourcer.
February 9, 2004... Stephen Wagenbach, most recently a managing director at CRA RogersCasey, has joined Investment Solutions, Inc.-a Conn.-based pension management provider-as head of business development and marketing. Wagenbach-who had been with CRA...

Industry May Find Soft Dollar Habit Hard To Kick.
February 9, 2004... The Securities and Exchange Commission is in the early stages of an investigation into the role of "soft dollars" as it pertains to commission fees to brokerage research. But already, industry consulting firms such as the TowerGroup are warning...

AmeriPrime's Knox Fuqua Makes Green from GARP.
February 9, 2004... Knox Fuqua, the portfolio manager of AmeriPrime's AAM Equity Fund, has a knack for watching and listening for those little glimpses and whispers of opportunity that many within the mainstream beltway of Wall Street simply miss. Although...

Hearty Parts Ways with PRIM Board.
February 9, 2004... James Hearty, executive director for the $32 billion Massachusetts Pensions Reserves Investment Management Board officially resigned from the plan last Friday. Hearty, who had been with the plan since April 2001, was ousted last year after...

Odds & Ends.
February 9, 2004... *Four Fortune 500 companies last week endorsed shareholder resolutions submitted on behalf of the New York City Employees' Retirement System (NYCERS) to include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies, according to NYCERS...

International Venture Cap Climbs.
February 16, 2004... European venture capital deal flows jumped 7% in the fourth quarter of 2003, following a similar increase in domestic venture cap financing activity, according to a joint VentureOne/Ernst & Young European Venture Capital Report. Activity...

Hawaii ERS Drops Schroders, Four on Watch.
February 16, 2004... The $8.5 billion Hawaii Employees' Retirement System has terminated Schroders Investment Management from a $400 million EAFE account, and has placed four other managers on watch for performance issues. Kimo Blaisdell, the plan's CIO, said...

Missouri Plan Plots For Real Estate.
February 16, 2004... The $21 billion Public School Retirement System of Missouri has created its first allocation to real estate and could initiate manager searches to oversee the 5% allotment-roughly $1 billion-in the coming months. Craig Husting, plan CIO,...

Orange County Employees' Consider TIPS.
February 16, 2004... The investment committee of the $4.8 billion Orange County Employees' Retirement System has made a recommendation to implement an allocation to Treasury Inflation Protection Securities (TIPS), according the committee's Feb. 9 meeting agenda. If...

Louisiana Parish Preps For Changes.
February 16, 2004... The $658 million City of Baton Rouge & Parish of East Baton Rouge plans to increase its exposure to international and small-cap equity and could launch searches for managers to oversee investments in alternatives and real estate said Jeffrey...

GE Eyes Real Estate Opportunities.
February 16, 2004... GE Real Estate, one of eight businesses under the GE Corporate Finance arm of Stamford, Conn.-based General Electric Corp., is said to be looking to boost its business with the addition of external real-estate managers and/or other...

Okla. City to Review Manager Lineup.
February 16, 2004... The $354 million Oklahoma City Employee Retirement System is set to review the performance of its entire domestic equity and fixed-income manager lineup, said Rena Hutton, the plan's retirement manager. Many of the plan's equity and...

El Paso Aims Big Bucks at Real Estate.
February 16, 2004... The $490 million El Paso Firemen & Policemen's Pension Fund will launch a search for one or more real estate managers to oversee as much as $30 million, the plan's pension administrator Robert Stanton said. Stanton said that the search is...

KCERA Places Putnam On the Hot Seat.
February 16, 2004... The $1.7 billion Kern County Employees' Retirement Association placed Putnam Investments on watch after reviewing a report on the firm's trading practices, according to minutes from the plan's December investment committee meeting. ...

Illinois Muni Launches Int'l Equity Search.
February 16, 2004... The $14 billion Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund has launched a search that could potentially unseat the Bank of Ireland Asset Management from an international equity account of an undetermined size. The performance of the BIAM's...

Philly Plan Hires New Consultant.
February 16, 2004... The $5.3 billion Philadelphia Board of Pensions & Retirement has hired Fiduciary Investment Solutions as its new consultant, replacing Mercer Investment Consulting. Plan CIO, Tony Johnson, said that while Mercer was in good standing with...

American Century Pro To Retire.
February 16, 2004... Paul Ehrhardt, chief operating officer of American Century Investment Management, will retire in the coming months. Chris Doyle, spokesman for the firm, confirmed the pending retirement and added that Ehrhardt was expected to officially...

JPMorgan Pro Bolts to Mutual of America.
February 16, 2004... Stephen Rich, VP of small-cap equity at JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management has left the firm. As first reported on IMW's Web site, imweekly.com (2/9/04), JPMorgan spokeswoman Gabrielle Gagliardo, confirmed Rich's departure. "He...

Citigroup Unleashes New Investment Tool.
February 16, 2004... Citigroup Inc. will begin offering a transition management strategy directed to the gamut of institutional investors who perform large transactions, according to an internal memo obtained by IMW last week. The firm's new Global Transition...

Deal Activity Fanning Private Equity Flames.
February 16, 2004... A new survey that cuts to the heart of the private equity market shows that middle market private equity firms are optimistic going into 2004, with those surveyed anticipating a 30% increase in the sale of portfolio companies. Of the 81...

Commodities An Overlooked Option Says AIG's Dan Raab.
February 16, 2004... As more institutional investors take action to diversify their portfolios beyond the realm of stocks and bonds with the addition of alternative investments, the option of investing in commodities such as livestock, grain and petroleum have...

Odds & Ends.
February 16, 2004... *The Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR) last week issued for public comment proposed "Gold Standard" revisions for existing Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS). The public comment period will run until Aug....

Enron CEO Skilling Charged.
February 23, 2004... Former Enron chief executive Jeffery Skilling pleaded not guilty in federal court last week to a 42-count indictment of fraud, insider trading and making false financial statements. Skilling was released on $5 million bail, pending trial. ...

Schroders Face More Client Woes.
February 23, 2004... Performance issues and the impending departures of executives on Schroder Investment Management's U.S.-based EAFE strategy, have led the $1.7 billion Houston Firefighters' Relief and Retirement Fund to extend the manager's watch status and the...

Imperial County Places Bond Manager on Watch.
February 23, 2004... The Imperial County Retirement System has placed Bradford & Marzec on watch for performance issues on its $132 million core fixed-income account. Susie Martinez, accountant for the El Centro, Calif.-based plan, said that the manager was...

San Joaquin Places Invesco on Watch.
February 23, 2004... The $1.3 billion San Joaquin County Retirement Association has placed Invesco on watch for performance issues on its $124 million EAFE account. Robert Palmer, CFO of the California plan said that the manager failed to maintain performance...

Pennsylvania Plan Cuts Core Equity Mgr.
February 23, 2004... The $270 million Bucks County Retirement Board has terminated Pa.-based money manager The Swarthmore Group. Kim Doran, deputy controller at the fund, said that the plan decided to terminate Swarthmore on Feb. 18 for performance issues,...

Vermont Plans to Get Socially Responsible.
February 23, 2004... Retirement plans in Vermont may be taking steps to include socially responsible investments and managers to their portfolios. State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding has shown interest in searching for SRI managers and the investment committees of...

Philly Utility Plots Manager Searches.
February 23, 2004... The $440 million Philadelphia Gas Works Retirement Reserve Fund is finalizing the details for at least two manager searches of unspecified investment style and value. The searches are the result of recent manager terminations at the plan....

South Carolina Seeks Consultant, Actuary.
February 23, 2004... The $21 billion South Carolina Retirement System will search for an investment consultant in the coming months, but is first looking for an actuary to assist its retirement divisions, which include the $2 billion Police Officers' Retirement...

Okla. Teachers Flunks BIAM.
February 23, 2004... The $5.8 billion Teachers' Retirement System of Oklahoma has terminated Bank of Ireland Asset Management from a $300 million international equity account, the plan's executive secretary Tommy Beavers said. Sub-par performance cost the...

Merced Taps Three for Private Equity.
February 23, 2004... The $410 million Merced County Retirement System has selected Invesco, Adams Street Partners, and Pomona Capital as its new private equity managers the California plan's CIO, Richard Stensrud, said. The three managers were chosen over...

New Head of Class for Ohio Teachers'.
February 23, 2004... The Ohio State Teachers Retirement System has appointed Damon Ashbury as its permanent executive director, said plan spokeswoman Laura Ecklar. Asbury served as interim executive director following the resignation of Herb Dyer last August....

La. Ethics Commission Lays Down the Law.
February 23, 2004... The Louisiana Ethics Commission has called the $10 billion Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana to task for investing in risky asset classes in exchange for lavish gifts during 1999 to 2001. The plan's alleged misdeeds were first...

Clients Keep Tabs, While Franklin Faces SEC Probe.
February 23, 2004... Plan sponsor clients of the Franklin Resources subsidiary Franklin Templeton, are keeping a close eye on the money manager as the Securities and Exchange Commission prepares to levy civil charges against Gregory Johnson, Franklin Resources'...

Third Avenue Portfolio Manager Finds Rewards in International Risk.
February 23, 2004... Amit Wadhwaney, portfolio manager of Third Avenue's International Value Fund, is not afraid to venture into dangerous territory to find investment opportunities. Wadhwaney recalls buying a position in a company based in Argentina during one of...

Odds & Ends.
February 23, 2004... *Kenneth Moreland, former CFO at RTKL Associates-an international architectural firm-was named CFO of the T. Rowe Price Group. He replaces George Roche, chairman and CEO, who served as interim CFO after Christina Wasiak took on other...