Investment Management Weekly articles from November 2003

Investment Management Weekly archives from November 2003

fAt Press Time.
November 3, 2003... Pension Relief A Senate committee endorsed legislation last week giving U.S. companies $30.5 billion in relief from pension burdens over the next three years while an expert panel works on long-term reform. The changes offer companies...

Putnam's Fate In Question at Rhode Island ERS.
November 3, 2003... The Rhode Island State Investment Commission-joining the latest of the wave of public pension funds to raise concern over the troubles of Putnam Investments-met on Oct. 31 to discuss the course of action it should take against the manager,...

ACERA to Ramp Up Real-Estate Searches.
November 3, 2003... The adoption of a new structure at the $3.4 billion Alameda County Employees Retirement Association has created real-estate manager and/or advisor opportnities within the plan. Micolyn Yalonis, a consultant with The Townsend Group who...

Oklahoma PERS to Launch Index Search.
November 3, 2003... The $5.8 billion Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System is gearing up to launch a search for a manager to oversee a sizable enhanced index mandate. Details of the search, including the specific mandate size, could not be determined as...

NYCERS May Place Manager on Watch.
November 3, 2003... The investment committee of the $30.8 billion New York City Employees Retirement System (NYCERS) may have placed Fischer Francis Trees & Watts under scrutiny. The plan was prepared to discuss the firm's international fixed-income account during...

Atlanta Transit Eyes Real Estate, Alts.
November 3, 2003... The $576 million Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) is prepared to search for alternative and/or real-estate managers if the results of a pending asset/allocation study pave the way, MARTA Senior Fund Officer Claudia...

Louisiana Parish Mulls Changes.
November 3, 2003... The investment committee for the City of Baton Rouge & Parish of East Baton Rouge is awaiting the results of an asset/liability study, which could result in manager searches, Baton Rouge Senior Fund Officer Jeffrey Yates said. The plan's...

Time Running Out for Sterling Heights Mgrs.
November 3, 2003... The fate of two equity managers will likely be decided during a November investment committee meeting of the $90 million Sterling Heights General E.R.S., Sterling Heights Pension Administrator Rick Sanborn said. Large-cap value manager...

CoPERA Hires for Private Equity.
November 3, 2003... The Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association (CoPERA) ended a 10-month long dry spell this month with a $35 million commitment to Permira Europe II. Not only is this the $24 billion pension fund's first private equity investment...

Alaska Fund CIO Retires.
November 3, 2003... Allan Moore, chief investment officer of the roughly $28 billion Alaska Permanent Fund has retired from the plan, effective at the end of September, according to a staff member who declined to be identified. Moore, who reportedly came out...

Dresdner Hires New Senior PM.
November 3, 2003... Dresdner RCM Global Investors has hired Scott Migliori, a senior co-manager with Provident Investment Counsel as its new senior portfolio manager, in an effort to boost the capacity of its U.S. large-cap growth equity team. Migliori, who...

SIF: Social Funds Grow Inflow by 7%, Despite Down Market.
November 3, 2003... A recent report by the Social Investment Forum indicated that while investment dollars poured out of the market over the last few years, investment in socially responsible investment (SRI) vehicles has substantially increased. Socially...

Corporate Reporting Leaves PMs Wanting More.
November 3, 2003... The quality of companies' financial reporting leaves a lot to be desired, according to a recent survey of portfolio managers and analysts. The Association for Investment Management and Research report, which polled over 1,000 of its...

Horizon's Slager Helps Firms Make Dough From Cash.
November 3, 2003... Check the asset allocation of almost any pension plan and you'll typically find a relatively small percentage of the overall investment exposure committed to a little thing called "cash." It is generally accepted that the reason cash...

CommonWealth Teams on REIT.
November 10, 2003... CommonWealth Partners and Rockefeller Group International formed a new real-estate investment management partnership last week. The venture provides CommonWealth with significant capital to acquire and develop large-scale office and mixed-use...

Nevada Launches $900M Index Search.
November 10, 2003... The $14 billion Public Employees' Retirement System of Nevada has launched a search for a passive S&P 500 Index manager to oversee a $900 million mandate. Nevada Chief Investment Officer, Laura Wallace said that the search was initiated to...

Okla. Treasurer Eyes Money Market, Short Term.
November 10, 2003... The $2.1 billion Office of the State Treasurer of Oklahoma has launched a search for one or more managers to oversee between $400 million and $600 million in U.S. money market and/or short-term investments. Treasury Chief Investment...

Small Plans Mirror States' Reaction to Putnam.
November 10, 2003... When the news first surfaced that accusations of fraud and market timing were being levied at Putnam Investments, attention immediately turned towards the firm's largest clients in anticipation of a backlash. As anticipated, Putnam...

Dekalb to Search For More Equity.
November 10, 2003... The $1 billion Dekalb Employees' Retirement System will add more small-cap equity managers to its lineup in the coming months, Dekalb Director of Finance Michael Bell said. On the advice of the plan's consultant, Callan Associates, the...

Middlesex Eyes Short-Term Bonds.
November 10, 2003... The $555 million Middlesex Retire-ment System has launched a search for a short-term fixed-income manager to oversee approximately $10 million. The details of the search could not be determined at press time, as calls to Nancy O'Neil,...

Denver Utility Mulls Int'l Equity Search.
November 10, 2003... The $197 million Denver Board of Water Commissioners is considering a search for an international equities manager to oversee as much as $13 million, DBWC Senior Fund Officer Kathryn Kempke said. The plan is currently reviewing its...

Putnam Out In Rhode Island.
November 10, 2003... The $5.8 billion Rhode Island Employees' Retirement System has terminated Putnam Investments from its $642 million core international equity account. The Rhode Island State Investment Commission met with the firm last week to discuss the...

Belmont Plan Starts Int'l Equity Search.
November 10, 2003... The $44 million Belmont Contributory Retirement System is set to launch a search for an international core equity manager to oversee a mandate of approximately $5 million, Belmont Senior Fund Officer Marion Cote said. The plan's consultant...

Louisiana Cops Oust Rockwood.
November 10, 2003... The $1.1 billion Louisiana Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System has terminated fixed-income manager Rockwood Capital Advisors, Louisiana Employee Benefits Officer Virginia Eckert said. Rockwood was released for performance reasons,...

Montana Refreshes Pacific Rim Managers.
November 10, 2003... Motivated by impending contract expirations, the $8.9 billion Montana Board of Investments has wrapped up searches for two active Pacific Basin equity managers, MBI Executive Director Carroll South said. The next such open re-bid for the...

County Plan Hires Real-Estate Consultant.
November 10, 2003... The $1.3 billion San Joaquin County Retirement Association has hired Opportunity Real Estate (ORE) as its real estate consultant the plan's Senior Fund Officer Robert Palmer said. ORE beat out contender The Townsend Group for the consultant...

IMA Client Looks to Buy Equity Firms.
November 10, 2003... Investment Management Advisors (IMA)-the Dallas-based advisor to public plans and money managers-is looking to acquire traditional growth and value equity firms with $3 billion to $5 billion on behalf of an unnamed client. David Blanchard,...

Oechsle Out, Fidelity In at Tulare.
November 10, 2003... The $700 million Tulare County Employees' Retirement Association has finally ended its relationship with international equity manager Oechsle International Advisors. Tulare Senior Fund Officer David Kehler said that the firm was terminated...

Interim Director Selected at Ore. PERS.
November 10, 2003... The $37 billion Oregon Public Employees' Retirement System has appointed Laurie Warner as interim executive director. Warner, who was most recently the facilities division administrator for the state department of administrative services,...

Study: Plans Consider Pension Freeze.
November 10, 2003... Cost and volatility concerns related to defined benefit plans have led more than 20% of plan sponsors to either freeze or consider a freeze on pension plan benefits, according to research by Aon Consulting. Studying more than 1,000 private...

Hedge Funds Attract Inflow from All Directions, Man's Kelly Says.
November 10, 2003... The popularity of hedge funds as a way for plan sponsors to potentially enjoy higher returns through higher risk is often attributed to a collective investor urgency to regain lost ground following the collapse of the equity markets. However,...

Careless Outsourcing Can Cause Compliance Issues.
November 10, 2003... While outsourcing back-office duties such as accounting, payroll and other process functions to third-party firms can help boost efficiency, scrutiny of outsourced firms' accounting methods, privacy safeguards and other potential ethical...

At Press TimePilgrim Baxter Founders Quit.
November 17, 2003... Pilgrim Baxter & Associates CEO Harold Baxter and Chief Operating Officer Gary Pilgrim, were forced to resign from the firm last week, after an internal investigation of investments made by Pilgrim. Pilgrim reportedly invested in a private...

Tacoma Mulls Northern's Role, Plots Study.
November 17, 2003... The $744 million Tacoma Employees' Retirement System's board is nearing a decision on whether to separate the duties of Northern Trust Co. Separately, the plan will also embark on an asset liability study, said Patricia Pabst, employee benefits...

Verizon Weighs Overlay Portfolio Manager Search.
November 17, 2003... Verizon Communications' pension investment arm is considering a search for an overlay portfolio manager (OPM), Verizon Managing Director of Risk Management Mark Menchin said. The OPM will assist the telecommunications giant in making...

Milwaukee Seeks $280m International Manager.
November 17, 2003... The $4.2 billion Milwaukee Employees' Retirement System's investment committee will begin to review a list of contenders this week in a $280 million search for an international core equity manager, Milwaukee Investment Officer Jennifer Shannon...

Mass. Plan Shops For Core Bond Manager.
November 17, 2003... Massachusetts' $130 million Haverhill Retirement System has initiated a search for a manager to oversee a core fixed-income account with a mandate of up to $10 million. Calls to Haverhill Senior Fund Officer Kathleen Gallant, were referred...

Lansing Mulls Multiple Searches.
November 17, 2003... The board of the $464 million City of Lansing Retirement System will decide this week whether to launch a search for an international core equity manager, said Jill Rhode, interim director of finance at the Michigan plan. The Lansing plan...

Aurora City Plans Asset Study.
November 17, 2003... The $200 million Aurora City General Employees' Retirement System is poised to launch its first asset liability study in nearly five years, said Tom Connell, pension plan administrator for the Colorado plan. The Aurora plan aims to...

East Bay Utility Seeks Int'l Manager.
November 17, 2003... The $627 million East Bay Municipal Utility Retirement System is searching for an international core equity manager to oversee a mandate of approximately $35 million, said Gary Breaux, senior fund officer at the Northern California plan. ...

Sterling Awards REIT, Spares Two Laggards.
November 17, 2003... The $90 million Sterling Heights General Employees' Retirement System has hired Invesco to manage a real-estate investment trust (REIT) account valued at 5% of the plan's total worth, or approximately $4.5 million, said Rick Sanborn, pension...

PERF Jettisons GE For Poor Performance.
November 17, 2003... GE Asset Management was shown the door by Indiana's $11 billion Public Employees' Retirement Fund, PERF spokesman Patrick Lane said. GE's performance on a $223 million international equities account fell below the expectations of the...

Neuberger Execs Jump Ship.
November 17, 2003... Three executives at Neuberger Berman Trust Co. have left the firm on the heels of the money manager's acquisition by Lehman Brothers. Neuberger CEO Albert Bellas, President Stephen Wells and Senior VP Ralph Anderson all resigned Nov. 10 to...

Florida SBA Hunts for New CIO.
November 17, 2003... The Florida State Board of Administration has launched a search for a new chief investment officer to replace Barbara Jarriel, who will retire at the end of February. Mike McCauley, director of investment services, said that Jarriel had...

DPSRS Taps Interim Director.
November 17, 2003... The $2.2 billion Denver Public Schools Retirement System (DPSRS) has appointed Bob Scott as the interim executive director, replacing David Stella, who will resign from the plan Dec. 2 (See IMW, 9/15/03). Scott, who was the executive...

AMA Appoints Greenwich Office Chief.
November 17, 2003... Palm Beach, Fla.-based wealth management firm Asset Management Advisors (AMA) has hired Elizabeth Mathieu as president of its Greenwich, Conn., office-AMA-Eagle Financial. Mathieu, who was hired at the beginning of November, was most...

SEC Plans to Make Shorting Stocks Easier.
November 17, 2003... The Securities and Exchange Commission recently aired its intention to move forward with a plan that would make it easier for investors to short a stock by eliminating the "uptick" rule, which bans short selling on a stock when the price is...

Pension Bill Could Hurt Bonds.
November 17, 2003... Congressional proposals to give pension-funding relief to battered industries like airlines and automakers could provide a new influx of volatility into the high-grade corporate bond market should any one of them become law. The most...

For PanAgora's Peters, Tactical Asset Allocations Talk Alpha.
November 17, 2003... As the chief investment officer and head of asset allocation portfolios at PanAgora Asset Management, Edgar Peters recognized the market bubble of the late 1990s while both the Dow and Nasdaq were still on the rise. Understanding the...

Tech Hedge Funds Shine.
November 24, 2003... Technology sector hedge funds in October led all other sectors, up an average of 3.90% for the month, according to the HedgeFund.net PerTrac Universes. In all, October's top 25% hedge funds gained an average 3.51%, while the bottom 25%...

Philly to Launch International Equity Search.
November 24, 2003... The $5.3 billion Philadelphia Board of Pensions & Retirement will begin a search for an international core equity manager to oversee approximately $200 million, the plan's Investment Officer Chris McDonough said. Assets for the...

Missouri PSRS Extends Alliance Watch.
November 24, 2003... The $22 billion Missouri Public School Retirement System has extended the watch status of AllianceBernstein Institutional Investment Management on its $1 billion large-cap growth portfolio. The firm is the latest in a string of money managers...

San Bernardino to Begin Market-Neutral Search.
November 24, 2003... The $3.4 billion San Bernardino County Employees' Retirement System will launch a search for a manager to oversee 5%, or a roughly $170 million allocation to market-neutral hedge fund-of-funds early next year, Senior Investment Analyst, Donald...

Big Easy Utility Nearing Searches.
November 24, 2003... The $172 million New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board Pension is poised to embark on manager searches following the hire of its new consultant, Fiduciary Investment Solutions (FIS), Senior Fund Officer Ethel Williams said. She referred...

Brockton Plan Pushes Lawmakers For POBs.
November 24, 2003... The Brockton Contributory Retirement System is petitioning Massachusetts state lawmakers to sign off on the issuance of pension obligation bonds (POBs), the plan's Executive Director Harold Hanna said. As much as $180 million in POBs could...

Georgia Hoses Jilts Burgess Chambers.
November 24, 2003... Ending a relationship that barely began, the $400 million Georgia Firefighter's Pension Fund has abruptly parted ways with newly hired consultant Burgess Chambers & Associates (BCA), Senior Fund Officer Jim Meynard said. Manager searches...

Judgment Day For PCA at KPERS.
November 24, 2003... The future of Pension Consulting Alliance as a consultant for the $9 billion Kansas Public Employees' Retirement System was discussed by the plan's board of trustees last Friday, KPERS Chief Investment Officer Robert Woodard said. PCA is...

Kansas City Cops Cram For P.E., Real Estate.
November 24, 2003... The board of the $584 million Kansas City Police Employees' Retirement System has spent the last few months learning the fundamentals of real-estate and private equity investing, James Pyle, the pension manager of the Missouri system said. ...

Search Rescheduled at Chicago A&B.
November 24, 2003... The $600 million Chicago Park Employees' A&B Fund has rescheduled its $25 million real-estate manager search for early 2004, the plan's executive director Joseph Fratto said. Richard Ennis, the plan's consultant at Ennis Knupp +Associates...

Hawaii Picks Large-Cap Growth Finalists.
November 24, 2003... The roughly $7 billion State of Hawaii Employees' Retirement System has selected four finalists-Ark Asset Management, Goldman Sachs Asset Managment, Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. and Turner Investment Partners-to oversee approximately $700...

Julius Baer Joins Okla. City Manager Lineup.
November 24, 2003... The $354 million Oklahoma City Employees' Retirement System has tapped Julius Baer Investment Management as its newest international equities manager, the system's Retirement Manager Rena Hutton said. Julius Baer was awarded an...

Janus Replaces CEO of Janus International.
November 24, 2003... Embattled fund manager Janus Capital announced last week the resignation of Richard Garland, chief executive officer of Janus International and managing director of Janus Global Adviser. Garland was forced out amid seething criticism after New...

CalPERS Ponders Privatizing Issue.
November 24, 2003... Responding to concerns from union members that it was investing in companies that privatize their public sector jobs, the California Public Employees' Retirement System's (CalPERS) investment committee will consider a policy that would restrict...

For WPG's Dan Vandivort, Bond Investing Means Breaking the Mold.
November 24, 2003... Dan Vandivort, the senior managing director and head of fixed-income at Weiss, Peck & Greer, understands that recent markets have changed the art of fixed income investing. The way Vandivort sees it, just because a portion of an overall...