Investment Management Weekly articles from March 2008

Investment Management Weekly archives from March 2008

Executive Pay Problematic.
March 3, 2008... The majority of corporate boards of directors and institutional investors agree that the current executive pay model has become excessive, according to "The Watson Wyatt 2008 Report on Directors' and Investors' Views on Executive Pay and...

Oakland 911 Watch Managers.
March 3, 2008... The Oakland Police and Retirement System placed three managers on "heightened monitoring" last week, said Teir Jenkins, accountant at the $563 million California plan. Following the advice of consultant Pension Consulting Alliance (PCA),...

APERS Pushes for More Int'l Equity.
March 3, 2008... The Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System (APERS) is planning to ramp up its international equity investments in an effort to enhance returns at the roughly $6 billion plan, as first reported on imweekly.com (2/26/08). At the plan's...

Pa. Muni Considers Emerging Markets.
March 3, 2008... The Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System (PMRS) recently completed an asset allocation study and is considering creating a separate allocation for emerging markets equity, said James Allen, secretary at the plan. Allen said that the...

San Jose Plan Extends Search.
March 3, 2008... The search for a new investment consultant to potentially replace Mercer is in the second go-around at the San Jose Police and Fire Department Retirement Plan, said Donna Busse, an investment officer with the California city's retirement plans....

SSgA Out At Tulare County.
March 3, 2008... The $1.05 billion Tulare County Employees' Retirement Association (TCERA) has officially decided to replace State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) on its nearly $100 million domestic equity enhanced index account, said David Kehler, the California...

Austin Plan Narrows Search.
March 3, 2008... Finalists have been named in a search for a small-cap growth manager at the $1.5 billion City of Austin Employees' Retirement System (COAERS), said Stephen Edmonds, the Texas plan's executive director. Last week, the committee was...

LACERA Names RE Finalists.
March 3, 2008... The $42 billion Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA) may have narrowed its search for an international real estate manager down to three finalists. According to the agenda for its meeting last week, the board of...

Virginia Plan Picks Manager.
March 3, 2008... Grosvenor Capital Management has been selected by the Educational Employees' Supplementary Retirement System of Fairfax County (ERFC) for a hedge fund-of-fund mandate, said a source with the $2 billion Virginia plan. The firm will manage...

Oklahoma Cops Pick Loomis.
March 3, 2008... The Oklahoma Police Pension & Retirement System (OPPRS) has retained Loomis, Sayles, & Company for a roughly $70 million mandate, said Bob Wallace, the plan's executive director. Wallace said that funding for the mandate would be taken from...

Odds & Ends.
March 3, 2008... *William McNabb has been promoted from head of institutional and international business with Vanguard to the firm's new president, effective March 1. *Deutsche Bank has named Rich Herman global head of the firm's institutional client...

Future of Pension Plans Looks Dark.
March 3, 2008... Asset Managers Need to Help Retirees Help Themselves An astounding number of U.S. companies are retiring the idea of the traditional, defined benefit pension plan in favor of do-it-yourself IRAs and 401(k) plans, creating a greater need for...

Invesco Gains Bond Pro.
March 3, 2008... Invesco has hired Ashok Parameswaran as a VP and senior analyst for its emerging markets fixed-income team. Parameswaran will be based in New York and report to Claudia Calich, portfolio manager and head of emerging market bonds at Invesco....

TCERA Moves Along with Search.
March 10, 2008... The roughly $1 billion Tulare County Employees' Retirement Association (TCERA) has named three firms to interview for a $100 million domestic equity enhanced index account, said David Kehler, the California plan's administrator. The board...

Worcester Looks at Distressed Debt.
March 10, 2008... The $711.4 million Worcester Retirement System is seeking information on closed-end control/significant influence oriented distressed debt strategies, said James DelSignore, the board's chairman and investment board member. DelSignore...

Cornerstone Adds Portfolio Manager.
March 10, 2008... Dean Morris has joined large-cap equity manager Cornerstone Investment Partners as a portfolio manager, Todd Harlicka, marketing associate at the firm, told IMW, last week. He joins from Invesco where he was a portfolio manager covering...

SGA: The Time is Right for Smid-Cap.
March 10, 2008... What if you made an investment strategy with no applicable index? That's the situation that faced Cynthia Tusan, founder and portfolio manager of Strategic Global Advisors (SGA), a Newport Beach, Calif. investment management company that...

Housing Plan Eyes Small-Cap Equity.
March 10, 2008... The Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency Retirement System (MHFA) has placed $2 million to $5 million up for grabs, according to an RFP issued by the plan. The MHFA is looking to add an active, international small-cap equity manager to...

City of Taunton Hunts for Consultant.
March 10, 2008... Segal Advisors could potentially be replaced as the City of Taunton Contributory Retirement System's investment consultant, as the fund has issued an RFP placing the contract up for grabs. The search is being conducted due to the plan's...

Oklahoma EDGE Fund Seeks Two.
March 10, 2008... The $160 million Oklahoma EDGE Fund has issued RFPs seeking two new managers to oversee a core-plus fixed-income account and a smid-cap equity account. The EDGE (Economic Development Generating Excellence) Fund was created by Oklahoma's...

PRIM Allocates To Senior Bank Loans.
March 10, 2008... The Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board (PRIM) is looking to place up to $450 million in a senior bank loan investment. The search comes as a result of the PRIM board's decision to place one percent of the fund's...

Barings Adds Two to Sales Team.
March 10, 2008... Marek Michejda and Bill Tsotsos have joined Baring Asset Management's North American institutional sales team, the firm announced last week. Michejda joins from Putnam Investments where he was the senior VP, responsible for all defined...

The Time is Right for Mid-Size Public or Union Pension Funds to be Lead Plaintiffs in Securities Class Actions.
March 10, 2008... Mid-size public and union pension funds have become serious contenders for the role of lead plaintiff in securities class actions. Whenever large pension funds opt to pursue individual securities actions instead of class actions, a mid-size...

Odds & Ends.
March 10, 2008... Peter Martin has been appointed as president of a new institutional services division at Natixis Global Asset Management, which will focus entirely on pension funds, endowments and foundations. Also, Spiro Christopulos was named chief operating...

CalPERS Sees Slight Dip in Returns.
March 24, 2008... The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) has posted its first negative returns in two and a half years due to the subprime mortgage crisis and high oil prices, the fund announced last week. For the final quarter of...

Ohio PERS Eyes REIT Expansion.
March 24, 2008... The Ohio Public Employees' Retirement System (OPERS) is thinking of tweaking its allocation to include international REITs, according to the agenda of a meeting held by the board last week. Prior to the completion of the meeting, Rich...

CalPERS Adds Internal Portfolios.
March 24, 2008... The $253 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) will now have two new internally managed index portfolios, said Brad Pacheco, spokesman for the plan. The investment committee approved recommendations made by the...

CalSTRS Taps Invesco For Next Gen Fund.
March 24, 2008... The $167 billion California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) has hired Invesco Private Capital for a private equity fund-of-funds mandate. The fund, called the New and Next Generation Manager Fund II, will focus on private...

NMPERA Considers New Investments.
March 24, 2008... The investment committee of the New Mexico Public Employees' Retirement Association (NMPERA) has decided to recommend contract extensions for two of its passive equity managers, said Dominic Garcia, deputy director of investments and interim...

Pa. SERS Approves New Investments.
March 24, 2008... The $35 billion Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System (SERS) has made new commitments in real estate and private equity, said Robert Gentzel, spokesman for the plan. The board approved investments of up to $75 million in Oculus...

LA 911 Looks At Corporate Governance.
March 24, 2008... The Los Angeles Fire & Police Pension System was due to receive an educational presentation from general investment consultant Pension Consulting Alliance (PCA) on corporate governance investing last week. The plan is investigating the...

NJ SIC Considers Searches and New Investments.
March 24, 2008... The New Jersey State Investment Council was eyeing new investments in private equity, real estate and hedge funds last week. For private equity, commitments to Hamilton Lane's separate account, Credit Suisse's Emerging Manager Separate...

Donovan Joins New Hampshire Fund.
March 24, 2008... The board of the nearly $6 billion New Hampshire Retirement System (NHRS) has selected Constance Donovan as the plan's new executive director and general counsel. Donovan was most recently general counsel for the $3 billion District of...

Asset Manager Rolls Out Frontier Fund.
March 24, 2008... Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has unveiled a new fund designed to provide exposure to certain pre-emerging market economies, the firm announced last week. The BGI Frontier Markets Fund will be benchmarked to the MSCI Frontier Markets...

PRIM Seeks Portable Alpha Managers.
March 24, 2008... A portable alpha hedge fund-of-funds is being sought by the $51.8 billion Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management (PRIM) Board. According to the RFP issued by the Boston-based plan, one or more hedge fund-of-funds managers...

Funds to Shy Away from Fixed-Income.
March 24, 2008... It seems that investments in fixed-income are losing the popularity contest among plan sponsors, as activity for managers in the asset class is expected to nosedive in the coming months, according to a survey conducted by Casey, Quirk &...

Sextant Capital Sees Increased Flows with Water Fund.
March 24, 2008... Water may seem like it's everywhere, but Otto Spork, president, CEO, founder and lead portfolio manager for Toronto-based Sextant Capital Management's three funds, said it is really a rare and increasingly scarce-and valuable-commodity. ...

Odds & Ends.
March 24, 2008... *R. Dino Davis has been appointed as VP and product specialist with Rampart Investment Management. Prior to joining Rampart, Davis was an investment director at Pyramis Global Advisors. *JPMorgan Chase has acquired The Bear Stearns...

Harvard Names New Endowment Head.
March 31, 2008... The Harvard Management Company (HMC) has named Jane Mendillo president and CEO, where she will manage Harvard University's $34.9 billion endowment fund, effective July 1. Mendillo will join HMC from Wellesley College where she has been the...

OCERS Places Cap Guardian on Watch.
March 31, 2008... The $8 billion Orange County Employees' Retirement System (OCERS) has removed Capital Guardian Trust Company from its watch list for a non-U.S. equity mandate, while simultaneously placing the manager back on the list for a U.S. equity account,...

Oakland P&F to Review Equity Line-Up.
March 31, 2008... The $563 million Oakland Police & Fire Retirement System (OPFRS) will be conducting a soup-to-nuts review of its domestic and international equity portfolios in the coming months, as recommended by its consultant Pension Consulting Alliance...

Putnam Places Emphasis on Currency.
March 31, 2008... Most investors probably don't think about it, but when they invest in international assets-bonds or equities-they are also playing the currency markets, whether actively or by default. This is true whether the fund they are in hedges those...

IPERS to Launch Consultant Searches.
March 31, 2008... The Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System (IPERS) is gearing up to tap the market for a new consultant, said Karl Koch, CIO at the fund. At its meeting last week, the board decided that it would issue RFPs for general and real estate...

Contra Costa Interviews for Core-Plus.
March 31, 2008... The Contra Costa County Employees' Retirement Association (CCCERA) was due to hear presentations from five finalists for a core-plus fixed-income mandate at last week's meeting, according to the agenda. At the meeting, the board...

NVPERS Picks Up Golden Capital.
March 31, 2008... Golden Capital Management has been hired to manage an enhanced equity mandate at the Nevada Public Employees' Retirement System (NVPERS), investment officer Ken Lambert told IMW last week. Golden Capital will oversee a $500 million domestic...

NJ SIC Doles Out $1 Billion for Alternatives.
March 31, 2008... The New Jersey State Investment Council (NJSIC) approved over $1 billion in alternative investments this month, said Tom Vincz, spokesman for the council. The council will be making private equity commitments of $200 million in Hamilton...

New Consultant Named at San Jose Plan.
March 31, 2008... The San Jose Police and Fire Department Retirement Plan has hired New England Pension Consultants (NEPC) to assist the plan in its investment decisions, said Ronald Kumar, financial analyst with the $2.7 billion plan. "NEPC was selected...

Maryland State Names Perry CIO.
March 31, 2008... The $40 billion Maryland State Retirement and Pension System has ended its nearly two year search for a CIO with the appointment of Mansco Perry, the fund announced today. Perry joins the plan from the $64 billion Minnesota State Board of...

NEPC Adds New Role.
March 31, 2008... New England Pension Consultants (NEPC) has hired Erik Knutzen as the firm's first-ever CIO. According to a statement on the firm's Web site, Knutzen will serve as NEPC's key investment strategist and oversee all of the firm's research....

FTSE Launches Terror-Free' Index: Washington Risk Group Weighs in on Legislation, Marketing Opportunities.
March 31, 2008... FTSE has partnered with Conflict Securities Advisory Group (CSAG), a risk measurement firm based in Washington, that has been focusing on Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria since just before the terrorist attacks in 2001, through the new FTSE...

Odds & Ends.
March 31, 2008... *Dan Budowski has joined Quantitative Services Group (QSG) as director of research. He was most recently CIO of global equities for Citigroup Asset Management. At QSG, Budowski will also lead the analyst teams responsible for the firm's equity...