Investment Management Weekly articles from July 2003

Investment Management Weekly archives from July 2003

At Press Time.
July 14, 2003... Northern Nabs BAE Systems British Aerospace firm BAE Systems has selected Northern Trust Co. as the new custodian for the company's GBP6 billion (approximately $9.8 billion) pension fund. Northern beat out a field of contenders for the...

LaSERS Plots Searches as Contracts Expire.
July 14, 2003... As much as $600 million in assets could be up for grabs when the board of the $5.6 billion Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System decides the fate of several managers, whose contracts expire this year. LaSERS CFO Bobby Beale said the...

Tennessee Puts Out Feelers for Real Estate.
July 14, 2003... The $23 billion Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System is ramping up a search for a new real-estate manager, TCRS Chief Investment Officer Thomas Milne said. Preparation for the search is being motivated by two factors-a desire to...

New Jersey to Enlist Outside Managers.
July 14, 2003... The investment council of the $57 billion New Jersey Division of Investments will take its first steps towards hiring external money managers this week, a source familiar with the situation said. The New Jersey Division of Investments has...

Tulare Launches Liability Study.
July 14, 2003... The $700 million Tulare County Employees' Retirement Association has launched an asset liability study that could result in manager searches, Tulare Senior Fund Officer David Kehler said. Consultant Summit Strategies is conducting the...

San Mateo Mulls Core Plus, High Yield.
July 14, 2003... The $1.3 billion San Mateo County Employees' Retirement Association could consider allocations to core-plus and high-yield fixed-income investments as part of its new asset allocation, according to the plan's investment committee minutes from...

Arizona Eyes Winter Consultant Searches.
July 14, 2003... The $19 billion Arizona State Retirement System will launch searches for two consultants in December, as contracts for its two incumbents are due to expire in the beginning of 2004, plan spokeswoman Stephanie Murray said. Mercer Investment...

San Bernardino Sizes Up Allocations.
July 14, 2003... The $3 billion San Bernardino County Employees' Retirement Association has embarked on a comprehensive asset liability study that could lead to manager searches, San Bernardino Senior Investment Analyst Donald Pierce said. The study...

Louisiana Teachers' Axes Exec Director.
July 14, 2003... The board of trustees for the $10 billion Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana has terminated Brian Minturn from his executive director post, after being in the position for approximately 18 months. According to published reports,...

Cops Unite to Create National Foundation.
July 14, 2003... Police officers from across the nation have joined together to create the Badge of Honor Memorial Foundation, the first national foundation geared specifically to aid the families of police officers who died in the line of duty. "The goal...

BofA Names Chief Market Strategist.
July 14, 2003... Banc of America named Joseph Quinlan to the newly created post of chief market strategist for its investment management business. Quinlan, a former senior global strategist for Morgan Stanley, will be based in New York. BofA's investment...

Hedge Funds Hold Longer than Its Reputation Suggests.
July 14, 2003... Hedge funds might be more long-term than investors think, according to a recent survey, with roughly half of respondents saying the average holding period of their funds is between six months and one year. An additional 23% said their...

Investors Take On Governance Issues.
July 14, 2003... Institutional investors taking governance into account when they make their investment decisions, Private Capital Management Senior VP of Investment Research Joseph Farley said. "Investors are investing in companies whose practices and...

Insight Capital's Gehring Banks On Optimism.
July 14, 2003... Insight Capital Research and Management Senior VP and Director of Investment Management Charles Gehring believes there's good reason for investors to have a more optimistic outlook. "If you think about it, the market has done extremely well...

At Press Time.
July 21, 2003... FEI Bemoans Plan Disclosure Corporate lobbyists Financial Executives International argued in a letter to U.S. accounting standard setters last week that efforts underway to increase pension fund disclosure will confuse an already complex...

Indiana Searches For Int'l Growth, Value.
July 21, 2003... The $9 billion Indiana Public Employees' Retirement System has launched searches for managers to oversee international growth and value accounts. Mandate sizes for the searches are yet to be determined. However, investment professionals...

ACERA Examines Real Estate, Int'l Equity.
July 21, 2003... The $3.4 billion Alameda County Employees' Retirement Association is being educated on commingled real estate and is gearing up to adopt a new international equity manager structure. According to its meeting agendas for this month, ACERA's...

San Jose Sets Stage for Multiple Searches.
July 21, 2003... The $1.1 billion San Jose Federated City Employees' Retirement System will launch searches for managers this fall to oversee all-cap growth and value mandates and could also initiate a search for a large-cap value manager to handle...

Sacramento Eyes Allocation Changes.
July 21, 2003... The $4 billion Sacramento County Employees' Retirement System has embarked on an asset liability study that could result in manager searches, SCERS Chief Investment Officer Jeffrey States said. The study is expected to be completed by...

Webster Kicks Off Multiple Searches.
July 21, 2003... The $11 million Webster Retirement Board has launched three manager searches worth a combined $6.4 million, Webster Executive Secretary Gerry Wentworth said. Requests for proposal (RFPs) have been issued by the board for a $3.7 million...

CalSTRS Creates New Plan For Alternatives.
July 21, 2003... The California State Teachers' Retirement System plans to nearly double the size of its private equity portfolio over the next four years. The fund expects to invest up to $8.7 billion in buyout and venture capital funds by 2007, according...

El Paso Hires For Small-Cap Growth.
July 21, 2003... The $435 million El Paso Firemen & Policemens' Pension Fund has hired Sterling Johnston Capital Management to oversee a small-cap growth account with a pending mandate of $20 million to $25 million said Robert Stanton, El Paso's pension...

Missouri Teachers Hire High Yield Manager.
July 21, 2003... The $21 billion Missouri Public School Retirement System has selected Seix Investment Advisors to handle a $400 million high-yield fixed-income portfolio, Missouri Chief Investment Officer Craig Husting said. The search, which was the...

Shelby Drops Chapman.
July 21, 2003... The Shelby County Retirement System has terminated Chapman Capital Management from its $21 million small-cap growth/domestic emerging markets account and transitioned assets to an existing large-cap account overseen by Dresdner RCM Global...

Ohio Teachers Mull Equity, Fixed Income.
July 21, 2003... The board of the $8 billion School Employees' Retirement System of Ohio this week will select managers for a $75 million equity mandate and a $75 million fixed-income account, Ohio spokeswoman Laurel Johnson said. The two finalists for the...

Former Invesco-NAM Pro Opens Firm.
July 21, 2003... Matthew Bevin, former director of product management at Invesco-National Asset Management has started his own value equity shop Integrity Asset Management-and has hired five investment professionals from National City Asset Management to...

Ohio Teachers' Executive Director, Board Under Fire Over Bonuses.
July 21, 2003... The $42.4 billion Ohio State Teachers' Retirement System has found itself at the center of controversy regarding its investment practices and sizeable bonuses shelled out to its employees. Laura Ecklar, a spokeswoman for the fund, said that...

The "Moderately Active" Management Of Invesco's David Wonn.
July 21, 2003... When it comes to enhanced index investing, Invesco Product Manager, Global Structured Products Group, David Wonn challenges what he calls the conventional wisdom that the more risk one takes by varying from an index, the more reward they can...

S&P: Liability Crisis to Continue.
July 21, 2003... As state and local governments continue to deal with issues of deficit and budgeting, a trickle-down affect has taken its toll on public pensions funds, according to a Standard & Poor's report titled, U.S. Public Pensions Face Uncertain Times."...

Second Quarter 2003 Search Roundup.
July 28, 2003... IMW's second quarter roundup includes completed manager search data* compiled between April 1 and June 30, 2003. It analyzes the broad asset classes of domestic equity and fixed-income, alternative investments, international equity, real...

At Press Time.
July 28, 2003... Miller Time For Frank Russell Frank Russell Company last week was awarded the manage-ment of Miller Brewing Co.'s multi-million dollar defined-benefit master trust, a package of nine separate defined benefit plans. The deal essentially...

Washington to Launch Int'l Equity Searches.
July 28, 2003... The $50 billion Washington State Investment Board will soon refresh its entire lineup of international-equity managers with searches totaling approximately $5.6 billion, WSIB spokeswoman Liz Mendizabal said. Requests for proposal (RFPs)...

Rhode Island Real Estate Searches Imminent.
July 28, 2003... The $5.3 billion Rhode Island Employees' Retirement System will initiate searches for real-estate managers to oversee the unfulfilled portion of its 5% allocation to the asset class, pending the outcome of a real-estate consultant search, Rhode...

2Q03: Equity Markets Show Signs of Recovery.
July 28, 2003... After counting the cash that was poured into the investment management market by plan sponsors, during the second quarter of 2003, consultants and money managers across the board agreed on one thing-equities are picking up. While the...

Dallas 911 Seeks Transition Manager.
July 28, 2003... The $2 billion Dallas Police & Fire Pension System has issued a request for proposal (RFP) for a transition manager to move assets in the range of $100 million to one or more global-bond aggregate accounts. Dallas Investment Analyst Jay...

Alaska Permanent Fund Seeks Officers.
July 28, 2003... The approximately $26 billion Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation has launched a search for a senior investment officer for equity and a fixed-income investment officer. It could not be determined if the searches were to replace incumbents,...

Union Cuts Consultant Over Liability Dodge.
July 28, 2003... Seeking greater actuarial responsibility from its consultant, the Washington State Plumbers and Pipefitters Union has terminated Watson Wyatt Worldwide and hired Wurts & Associates after a short search, according to a source familiar with the...

Ohio School System Hires Two.
July 28, 2003... The board of the $8 billion School Employees' Retirement System of Ohio concluded two searches last week, choosing Weiss Peck & Greer to manage a $75 million fixed-income account and DePrince/Race & Zollo to oversee a $75 million equity...

KPERS Replaces Lend Lease with AEW.
July 28, 2003... The board of the $8 billion Kansas Public Employees' Retirement System has hired AEW Capital Management for a $200 million core real-estate account, replacing the beleaguered Lend Lease Real Estate Investments, KPERS Chief Investment Officer...

Neuberger Client Monitors Acquisition.
July 28, 2003... At least one Neuberger Berman client has opted to take a "wait-and-see" stance after the firm's acquisition by Lehman Brothers. "We are monitoring the situation," said Bill Puckett, chief investment officer at the $5 billion Teachers'...

UBS Global Asset CIO to Retire.
July 28, 2003... Jeffrey Diermeier, global chief investment officer for UBS Global Asset Management, will retire in the coming months. Brian Singer, head of asset allocation and risk management, will assume Diermeier's responsibilities in the Americas, while...

Jefferies Beefs Up Asset Management.
July 28, 2003... Bradford Klein and Adam De Chiara have been hired as co-presidents of Jefferies Asset Management, the asset management unit of Jefferies Group. The duo joined the firm from AIG Trading Group, where Klein was executive vp and De Chiara a...

CEOs See Light At the End of the Tunnel.
July 28, 2003... CEOs confidence in the economy is improving, according to a recent survey released by the Conference Board. The quarterly survey of 100 CEOs found that 35% of respondents felt that current economic conditions have improved, up from 15% last...

New Pension Math Underwhelms Public Plans.
July 28, 2003... A move last week by federal lawmakers to temporarily modify the way employee pension funds are valued may have little impact on strapped public defined-benefit (DB) plans. The House Ways and Means Committee approved a revised version of...

David L. Babson's Farrell: Stay True to Your Investment Style.
July 28, 2003... Michael Farrell, managing director at David L. Babson & Co., sees the oscillation between growth and value investing styles on the increase. While Farrell understands how difficult it can be for a money managers to resist style drift when...