Investment Management Weekly articles from January 2003

Investment Management Weekly archives from January 2003

State Street sells trust biz. (At Press Time).
January 6, 2003... State Street Corp. has sold its corporate trust business unit to U.S. Bank, which resulted in an after-tax gain of about $296 million for the firm. The money from the deal will be put towards the $1.5 billion Deutsche Global Securities...

El Paso plan scouts new asset classes. (New Searches).
January 6, 2003... The $456 million El Paso Firemen & Policemen's Pension Fund will likely search for managers to oversee new allocations to core fixed-income, small-cap growth and hedge funds at the completion of its current asset allocation study. "We're...

Florida to seek distressed debt handlers.
January 6, 2003... The $85 million Florida State Board of Administration will launch a search for managers to oversee between $200 million and $300 million in distressed debt, as first reported Dec. 27 on IMW's Web site, www.imweekly.com. The plan began...

Chicago to undergo structural physical. (Portfolio Review).
January 6, 2003... The board for the $600 million Chicago Park Employees' A&B Fund will request from its consultant a full structural review of its asset allocation and money managers in late-January, Chicago A&B Executive Director Joseph Fratto said. "It...

Dallas puts brakes on global search. (General News).
January 6, 2003... The board for the $2 billion Dallas Police & Fire Pension Fund has postponed its search for a global-bond aggregate manager due to the lack of detailed information on 10 potential candidates short listed to oversee the $100 million account. ...

Middlesex seeks hedge fund-of- funds. (General News).
January 6, 2003... The $500 million Middlesex Retirement System has launched a search for a manager to oversee a $25 million hedge fund-of-funds mandate. Details of the search were scant as calls to Nancy O'Neil, executive director and the plan's consultant,...

Healthcare fund drops Morgan Stanley. (General News).
January 6, 2003... The $100 million Swedish Health Services of Seattle terminated Morgan Stanley from a $25 million small-cap core account, replacing it with Batterymarch Financial Management, according to an industry source familiar with the firm. Mike...

El Paso places Loomis on watch. (General News).
January 6, 2003... The El Paso Firemen & Policemen's Pension Fund has placed Loomis, Sayles & Co. on watch for underperformance in its $47 million fixed-income account. In October, Loomis was instructed to unload its high-yield holdings so the pension system...

Kern seeks new administrator. (General News).
January 6, 2003... The $1.5 billion Kern County Employees' Retirement Association has initiated a search for an assistant retirement administrator to replace Roberto Pena, who left the plan in September. Pena joined the Fresno County Employees' Retirement...

GAA plans private equity move. (General News).
January 6, 2003... Global Asset Alternatives, an Atlanta-based alternative investment advisory and management firm, will either recruit a director of private equity strategies or forge a partnership with a private equity firm in order to claim a larger stake in...

Ex-Bear Stearns MD cleared of bomb hoax. (General News).
January 6, 2003... A London court found Eric Suschetet, a former senior managing director at Bear Stearns, not guilty of telling an Air France duty manager that a bomb was on the plane. Suschetet was accused of telling the manager of the bomb after being...

Boutique firm launches high-yield sales team. (General News).
January 6, 2003... Middle market boutique Morgan Joseph has launched a new department by hiring a 13-person group to cover high-yield bond, convertible bond sales, trading and research, according to a source. The new staff includes Matthew Stedman, head of...

Lazard beefs up high-yield operations. (General News).
January 6, 2003... Lazard Asset Management has beefed up its U.S. high-yield fixed-income team by hiring four analysts from Offitbank. Thomas Dzwil joins Lazard as a senior VP and portfolio manager; David Dicker joins as a VP and analyst; Paul Martins joins...

Matson named executive director. (People News).
January 6, 2003... The $19 billion Arizona State Retirement System has appointed Paul Matson as its new executive director. Matson, currently the plan's chief investment officer, has been at the plan since 1995. He replaces LeRoy Gilbertson, who retired Jan....

Colorado's Director to retire. (People News).
January 6, 2003... Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association Deputy Executive Director Norman Benedict will retire from the $24 billion plan in March. Benedict, who joined the plan in 1973 as a fixed-income portfolio manager, was appointed assistant...

Boston's CEO bolts to Iowa. (People News).
January 6, 2003... Boston City Retirement System CEO Donna Mueller will leave the plan at the end of the month for the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System. Mueller will hold the same title at IPERS. Its interim CEO and director of personnel Mollie...

Mercer boosts N.Y. Offices. (People News).
January 6, 2003... Mercer Investment Consulting has added three senior officers to its New York-based practice. Robert Burke, formerly the U.S. practice leader for the Mercer Manager Advisory will head the group, and will report to Ravi Venkataraman, lead...

Citigroup taps Calio as government affairs VP. (People News).
January 6, 2003... Citigroup has hired a former legislative affairs aide to President George Bush as its government liaison. Nicholas Calio will be a senior VP for global government affairs, effective at the end of January. Calio will oversee government affairs...

Moody's develops real estate measure. (Industry at a Glance).
January 6, 2003... Moody's Investors Services has developed a new rating methodology for evaluating real-estate funds. The new criteria takes an aggressive stance on governance and transparency issues. The rating methodology, which is the first to focus...

Research falls for small-caps. (Industry at a Glance).
January 6, 2003... Cutbacks at Wall Street firms have led to the loss of small-cap research coverage, which is critical in attracting investor attention to their little-publicized shares. According to IMW's sister publication, Investment Dealers' Digest, fewer...

Weekly leads.
January 6, 2003... Weekly Leads Investment Management Weekly's Weekly Leads includes search and hire activity for the week ending January 2. The IMW staff believes the information, which was gathered from a variety of sources, to be reliable, but all...

Update.
January 6, 2003... Update Plan Sponsor Fund Size Mandate Size Firm/Comments Dallas Police & Fire PF 2,000 Global/ 100 Search delayed Dallas Fixed Income until Jan. 16 Plan...

Finito.
January 6, 2003... Finito Plan Sponsor Fund Size Mandate Size California State Teachers' RS 91,000 Alternatives/ 100 Sacramento Buy Outs Illinois State Teachers' RS, ...

Search overview.
January 6, 2003... Search Overview Plan Sponsor Mandate Alfred I. DuPont Testamentary Int'l Equity/Emerging Markets Trust & the Nemours Greenwich Town Retirement System U.S. Equity Jersey City Employees' ...

The 2nd Annual Managed Accounts Technology and Operations Summit.
January 6, 2003... The staff at IMW has gathered the following items from a variety of sources. The IMW staff believes the information in this section to be reliable, but all information should be confirmed with the various organizations. Jan. 23-24: The 2nd...

Casey requests PSERS, SERS audit. (At Press Time).
January 13, 2003... Auditor General Casey has issued subpoenas to both boards for the Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System's and the Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System's for its investment operations. The Auditor General has...

Fort Worth to evaluate bond structure.
January 13, 2003... The board for the $1.1 billion Fort Worth Employees' Retirement System will likely assess its $220 million fixed-income portfolio during the first half of 2003, according to an industry source close to the situation. Larry Stovall, plan...

Seattle Swedes place two on watch.
January 13, 2003... The board for the Swedish Health Services of Seattle has likely placed two managers on a watch list for personnel changes and performance-related issues, according to sources familiar with the plan. The suspected firms are JPMorgan Fleming...

Institutions' 4Q hiring activity remains flat. (2002 Wrap-Up).
January 13, 2003... Institutional investors' hiring activity in the fourth quarter of 2002 repeatedly echoed doubts about overall market performance and investment firms' ability to negotiate a treacherous market. Industry consultants said that a majority of...

Austin cops stake out hedge funds. (General News).
January 13, 2003... The City of Austin Police Retirement System is considering a first-time investment in hedge funds. Sampson Jordan, pension administrator, said that the plan's consultant Jim Monroe of Monroe Vos Consulting Group has issued the board with a...

Sterling Heights to study assets. (General News).
January 13, 2003... The $83 million Sterling Heights General Employees' Retirement System, will launch a soup-to-nuts study of its asset allocation in the coming weeks. The study is the plan's first in six years. "The study is timely, given what the markets...

Anne Arundel places two on watch. (General News).
January 13, 2003... The $870 million Anne Arundel Retirement System has placed its small-cap value and fixed-income managers on watch for performance-related issues, according to a source familiar with the plan. John Hammond, director of fund investments,...

Oakland switches value managers. (General News).
January 13, 2003... The approximately $150 million Oakland County Road Commission, recently terminated its large-cap value manager and hired Armstrong Shaw Associates on the $25 million account. Dennis Lockhart, finance director for the Beverly Hills,...

San Bernardino nears search end. (General News).
January 13, 2003... The $3 billion San Bernardino County Employees Retirement System has narrowed its real-estate-manager search to four finalists: Prudential Real Estate Investors, Lowe Enterprises Investment Group, J.P. Morgan Fleming Investment Management and...

Mississippi fund scouts REITS. (General News).
January 13, 2003... The $12 billion Mississippi Public Employees' Retirement System will likely scout out commingled and real estate investment trust (REIT) managers to run up to 5%, or $600 million, as part of its recently adopted investment strategy, according...

Norwood seeks new treasurer. (General News).
January 13, 2003... The $82 million Norwood Retirement System is searching for a new treasurer. The position became available after the Dec. 31 retirement of William Crozier. Crozier has been retained to help run the office until his an appropriate...

Alaska fund mulls adding real estate. (General News).
January 13, 2003... The $330 million Anchorage Police & Fire Retirement System, is considering adding an open-ended real-estate allocation, Anchorage Executive Director Charles Laird said. The potential investment would be for added diversification, as the...

Investors win proxy suit. (General News).
January 13, 2003... A Los Angeles Federal court jury recently ruled in favor of 18,000 limited partner investors--including institutional plan sponsors--in a case against the National Partnership Investment Corp. (Napico). An 11-member jury found that the...

FASB revists options expensing. (General News).
January 13, 2003... The Financial Accounting Standards Board has released amendments to Statement 123: Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation, in order to make expensing options a more attractive proposition for companies. Statement 148 introduces two new...

Wall Street must lead by example. (General News).
January 13, 2003... Financial institutions' vigilance in introducing better internal governance systems as an example to companies they invest in will have more effect on restoring investor confidence than new regulations, according to a recent survey of the...

BGI hires Invesco talent, promotes duo. (People News).
January 13, 2003... Barclays Global Investors has hired Robert Slotpole, former chairman of the investment review committee at Invesco Institutional, as its new chief investment officer for equities. Slotpole, who joined the firm Jan. 6, will assist in...

Adams Harkness hires research head. (People News).
January 13, 2003... Adams, Harkness & Hill has hired Kris Tuttle as a managing director and director of research, succeeding Matthew Patsky who is now a portfolio manager at the firm's asset management division. Tuttle will head a team of 17 research analysts...

Alaska State hires Bader as CIO. (People News).
January 13, 2003... The $13 billion Alaska State Pension Investment Board has appointed Gary Bader at the plan's chief investment officer. His predecessor, Lee Livermore, is leaving the post to pursue other opportunities, but he declined to comment on what...

Yale bulldogs reduce private equity allocation. (Industry at a Glance).
January 13, 2003... Bucking a trend that has pulled nearly $1 billion from new limited partners into the private equity arena, Yale University's $10.5 billion endowment has scaled back its private equity allocation by $800 million to $1.84 billion. After two...

Weekly Leads.
January 13, 2003... Weekly Leads Investment Management Weekly's Leads includes search and hire activity for the week ending January 9. The IMW staff believes the information, which was gathered from a variety of sources, to be reliable, but all...

Search Overview.
January 13, 2003... Search Overview Plan Sponsor Mandate Anne Arundel Retirement System U.S. Equity/Large Cap Value Chicago Park Employees' A&B Fund U.S. Fixed Income Chicago Park Employees' A&B Fund U.S....

Fourth quarter 2002 search roundup.
January 13, 2003... IMW's fourth quarter roundup shows that money managers claimed only $15.7 billion in the fourth quarter compared to $16.7 billion in the third quarter (See chart below). The roundup, which includes all completed asset manager search...

Calendar.
January 13, 2003... The staff at IMW has gathered the following items from a variety of sources. The IMW stall believes the information in this section to be reliable, but all information should be confirmed with the various organizations. Jan. 29-31: The 9th...

Dresdner RCM names Vose CIO. (At Press Time).
January 20, 2003... Dresdner RCM Global Investors appointed Ian Vose as chief investment officer, effective April 1. Vose will replace William Price, who will become chairman after a six-month sabbatical. When Price returns to Dresdner RCM, he will develop an...

L.A. fund puts Lincoln under microscope.
January 20, 2003... The board for the Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System put its core bond manager Lincoln Capital Management on watch Jan. 14 due to the firm's recent sale of its fixed-income asset management business, a fund source said. The...

Workers comp plan eyes stocks, bonds.
January 20, 2003... The $13.5 billion Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation will launch searches for large-cap and fixed-income managers in the coming months. OBWC Chief Investment Officer Bob Cowman said that the searches would simply add to the fund's approved...

Washington County may replace RRZ.
January 20, 2003... The $59 million Washington County Employees' Retirement System has placed its balanced-equity manager RRZ Investment Management on watch, and could look for a replacement in the coming months, according to a source familiar with the situation....

Nicholas buys time at San Joaquin. (General News).
January 20, 2003... Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management has bought at least six more months on San Joaquin County Employees Retirement System's watch list. The manager was placed on watch for underperformance in its $61 million systematic small-cap growth...

Detroit 911 eyes new custodian. (General News).
January 20, 2003... The $3 billion Detroit Police & Fire Retirement System has launched a search for a custodian that could possibly replace the plan's incumbent, State Street Bank & Trust. "They had a five-year contract," said Nick Degel, executive director,...

Pembroke hires two for small cap. (General News).
January 20, 2003... The $85 million Pembroke Pines Police & Fire Retirement System made its first foray into the small-cap equity marketplace, which led to the hiring of Atlanta Capital Management and Sawgrass Asset Management. Atlanta Capital was recruited to...

Wisconsin seeks bond assistant. (General News).
January 20, 2003... The $57 billion State of Wisconsin Investment Board is looking to hire an assistant portfolio manager to assist its in-house investment team with $3 billion private placements fixed-income fund. Vicki Hearing, spokeswoman for the fund, said...

Dr. Scholl selects strong for small-cap. (General News).
January 20, 2003... The $150 million Dr. Scholl Foundation has hired Strong Capital Management to run a small-cap value portfolio of an undetermined size. Plan Treasurer John Nitschke said that the board sought to further diversify its investment strategy,...

Oklahoma cops hires three. (General News).
January 20, 2003... The $1 billion Oklahoma Police Pension & Retirement System has hired all three finalists from its private equity search. As first reported on Jan. 15 on IMW's Web site, www.imweekly.com, the plan had selected Arsenal Capital Partners,...

Shareholder activism remained vital in 2002. (General News).
January 20, 2003... According to the Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC), which tracks roughly 3,000 companies, including the Standard & Poor's 1,500, shareholders waged seven M&A-related proxy fights last year, down 20% from 10 in 2001. But in 2001,...

Luzerne to build case. (General News).
January 20, 2003... The Luzerne County Retirement Board has retained Philadelphia-based law firm Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis to conduct a forensic study of the losses incurred by the fund dating back to 1993. The move is the plan's latest ploy to contend...

N.Y. Fund hires new private equity head. (People News).
January 20, 2003... The $111 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund has appointed former VP of Salomon Smith Barney's investment banking division David Loglisci as its new director of private equity investment, according to a source familiar with the plan....

Goldman senior M&A banker retires. (People News).
January 20, 2003... Goldman Sachs' senior mergers and acquisitions banker, David Baum, is retiring in May after 18 years at the firm. He was named co-head of Goldman's retail industry investment banking team in 1998 and M&A co-head for the Americas in 1999....

Hedge Fund investors press for disclosure. (Industry at a Glance).
January 20, 2003... The issue of transparency has already emerged as a significant theme for plan sponsors in 2003. While the issue has been a source of concern in previous years, recent scandals shuttled the topic to the forefront of investors' minds. ...

Dividend tax cut may hurt REITs. (Industry at a Glance).
January 20, 2003... If implemented, President George Bush's elimination of dividend tax could pinch the asset-backed securities market in one of its most vibrant areas, collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). Existing multi-sector CDOs with real-estate...

Platinum Capital to launch fund. (Industry at a Glance).
January 20, 2003... Platinum Capital Management, a U.K.-based hedge fund group will launch a market-neutral equity fund in New York next month. The fund--Platinum All Weather Fund--will steer away from merger arbitrage, said Craig Reeves, Platinum Capital...

Search Overview.
January 20, 2003... Search Overview Plan Sponsor Mandate Anchorage Police & Fire Retirement Real Estate System Bay Harbor Islands Retirement System Other/Balanced City of Austin Police Retirement ...

Calendar.
January 20, 2003... The staff at IMW has gathered the following items from a variety of sources. The IMW staff believes the information in this section to be reliable, but all information should be confirmed with the various organizations. Jan. 29-31: The 9th...

Correction/Clarification.
January 20, 2003... In IMWs Dec. 30 "People Moves In 2002" round up, Ken Brooks title was misstated. Brooks is the director of sales at Weiss, Peck & Greer.

Weekly Leads.
January 20, 2003... Weekly Leads Investment Management Weekly's Weekly Leads includes search and hire activity for the week ending January 16. The IMW staff believes the information, which was gathered from the variety of sources, to be reliable, but all...

PA Auditor General push funds to cooperate. (At Press Time).
January 27, 2003... Pennsylvania Auditor General Robert Casey asked the Commonwealth Court to enter a declaratory judgment that would give him the legal authority to conduct special performance audits of the state's two major pension funds for public employees-the...

Pension shortfalls may become crisis in 2003.
January 27, 2003... The year 2002 may be the worst to date for pension shortfalls, but industry observers believe we've only seen the tip of the iceberg. Going forward, they predict there will be a minor explosion in the number of companies forced to dig deep to...

Lazard pro quits over asset strategy.
January 27, 2003... Top money manager William von Mueffling quit the firm after locking horns with Lazard CEO Bruce Wasserstein over the future of its asset management unit. Von Mueffling, whose investment performance has slowed recently, was instrumental in...

Fixed-income managers reap rewards.
January 27, 2003... Given the fact that equity funds lost about $20 billion in assets in 2002 and bond funds attracted $134 billion, a record high, it's not too surprising that fixed-income managers' paychecks increased in 2002. Correspondingly, money...

Southbridge launches consultant search. (General News).
January 27, 2003... The $17 million Southbridge Retirement System has launched a search for a consultant that could potentially replace the plan's incumbent, Segal Advisors. Mary Szugda, plan administrator for the Massachusetts-based fund, said that the...

Allegiant Bank plans Taft-Hartley expansion. (General News).
January 27, 2003... St. Louis-based Allegiant Investment Counselors has set its sights on expanding its Taft-Hartley clientele. "We've had some Taft-Hartley experience, but there are a lot of opportunities in the St. Louis area," Allegiant President Gordon...

Berkshire Board seeks new treasurer. (General News).
January 27, 2003... For the first time ever, the $77 million Berkshire Retirement Board, will let state regulators select its new treasurer, according to a market source. Normally, the four-person retirement board would select the new treasurer. However, two...

Mass. muni snags new consultant. (General News).
January 27, 2003... The $71 million Lexington Retirement System has hired Meketa Investment Group as its first full-retainer consultant, and may look to launch a soup-to-nuts asset allocation study in the coming months. Marguerite Oliva, plan administrator,...

Offitbank Evergreen deal suprises clients. (General News).
January 27, 2003... Plan sponsor clients of Offitbank responded with a pink slip after learning that the firm's high-yield fixed income portfolio had been folded into Evergreen Investments--in some cases several months after the fact. Wachovia Corp., parent...

Troubled PCAOB lands Niemeier. (General news).
January 27, 2003... The Securities and Exchange Commission named one of its own, former chief accountant of its enforcement division Charles Niemeier, as acting head of the beleaguered Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The SEC is likely to wait until...

NYC Comptroller targets proxy ballots. (Industry at a Glance).
January 27, 2003... The crusade for corporate governance is continuing to gain ground, as New York City Comptroller William Thompson called on companies to act on shareholder proposals that win majority votes. This new campaign is in response to the long-term...

Money managers view equities as best bet. (Industry at a Glance).
January 27, 2003... Despite the current economic doldrums, investment managers still remain optimistic about the equity markets in 2003, a recent survey found. The Mercer Investment Consulting survey polled money managers from 58 investment management shops,...

Austin seeks pension pro. (People News).
January 27, 2003... The $1 billion Austin Employees Retirement System has initiated a nationwide search for a new pension director to replace Catherine Harrington, who will retire at the end of the month. The plan will solicit the services of an executive...

NACM's spokesman becomes consultant. (People News).
January 27, 2003... Rick Shaughnessy, former head of communications at Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management, has left the firm after eight years to join Stolper & Co., as its newest investment consultant. "I was just interested in doing other things in...

Dresdner appoints new Co-CIO. (People News).
January 27, 2003... Dresdner RCM Global Investors has appointed Joanne Howard as its new co-chief investment officer. Howard's appointment replaces Mary Bersot, who will leave the firm to rejoin McMorgan & Co. as its new CIO. Anne Santoro, Dresdner's...