Investment Management Weekly articles from October 2005

Investment Management Weekly archives from October 2005

SWIB Picks New Legal Counsel.
October 3, 2005... Jane Hamblen has been appointed chief legal counsel to the $75 billion State Wisconsin Investment Board. Her appointment replaces Keith Johnson, who left the board in August to start Pension Fund Alliance Consulting Group and serve as the...

Kern County Preps For Emerging Manager Search: Hires Two for Small-Cap Value.
October 3, 2005... The $2 billion Kern County Employees' Retirement Association is gearing up to initiate a search process for an emerging manager, according to an official who declined to be identified. Full details of the proposed search, including the time...

LACERS Places Equity Manager on Probation.
October 3, 2005... As first reported on IMW's Web site IMWeekly.com (9/26), the investment committee of the $8.9 billion Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System (LACERS) has recommended that Pacific Financial Research (PFR) be placed on probation for a...

Wyoming Retirement Monitors Lord Abbett.
October 3, 2005... The Wyoming Retirement System is keeping close tabs on its mid-cap value manager, Lord Abbett & Co. said Harry Wales, deputy director of the $5.3 billion plan. The firm oversees a $120 million account. While the pension fund does not...

ASRS in Midst of Mid-Cap Searches.
October 3, 2005... The $20.8 billion Arizona State Retirement System is in the midst of its search to replace terminated mid-cap managers Forstmann Leff Associates and Frontier Capital Management. Both firms had been employed by the plan since 2002. Gary...

W. V. Plan Gets Prepped for Review.
October 3, 2005... The trustees of the $5.6 billion West Virginia College Prepaid Tuition & College Savings Program will likely prepare for a soup-to-nuts review of the plan, once its ongoing search for an investment consultant is completed, said Diana Stout,...

New Mexico Gov Seeks Treasurer's Ouster.
October 3, 2005... Since being arrested on charges of racketeering and accepting kickbacks for steering business to investment advisors, New Mexico State Treasurer Robert Vigil may have yet another battle to face. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, along...

Orlando Hires For Small, Large-Cap.
October 3, 2005... The $753 million Orlando Public Employees' Retirement System, which houses the Fire Pension Fund and the General Employees' Pension Plan, has hired Oberweis Asset Management to oversee a roughly $67 million small-cap growth account previously...

Two Bayou Principals to Plead Guilty.
October 3, 2005... Daniel Marino, the former finance chief of disgraced hedge fund Bayou Group, pleaded guilty on Sept. 29 to criminal charges related to the collapse of the Stamford, Conn.-based fund, which had more than $300 million in assets. Samuel...

CalSTRS, CalPERS Pick New Board Members.
October 3, 2005... Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed two new board members to the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) and another to the board of the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS). Elizabeth Rogers,...

Carper's Retirement Sparks Lord Abbett Re-Structuring.
October 3, 2005... Daniel Carper's recent decision to retire as partner and head of sales and marketing at Lord, Abbett & Co., may signal the beginning of a new era at the firm. Robert Dow, Lord Abbett's managing partner, explained that Carper's retirement...

Phoenix Investments: One Year Later.
October 3, 2005... Since joining Phoenix Investment Partners some 18 months ago, Amy Fisher, president of the firm's institutional markets division has made great strides in becoming visible in the institutional marketplace "Everyone was very curious as to...

Large-, Mid-Cap Value Separate Account Standouts.
October 3, 2005... Large-cap and mid-cap value strategies were the top performers among separately managed accounts during the first quarter of 2005, according to newly released data from the Money Management Institute, Financial Research Corp. and Dover...

Hedge Funds To Reach $2 Trillion by 08.
October 3, 2005... Hedge fund assets will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 15% between 2005 and 2008, resulting in overall growth of 75% in that time, according to the TowerGroup. Hedge funds have become the hot pick as more investors look for...

Pension Funds Sue Auto Parts Dealer.
October 10, 2005... Delphi Corp.-the largest auto parts supplier in the U.S.-has found itself involved in a lawsuit that was filed on Oct. 5 by two state pension funds. The $7.7 billion Teachers' Retirement System of Oklahoma and the $16 billion Public Employees'...

Reforms Could Spell New Investments for GERS.
October 10, 2005... The $1.3 billion Government Employees Retirement System of the U.S. Virgin Islands may be adding to its investment portfolio in the near future if a new reform bill is signed into law. Late last month, the Senate reportedly approved a bill...

San Diego Mayor Calls for Pension Officials Ouster.
October 10, 2005... San Diego's Deputy Mayor Toni Atkins has called for the resignations of San Diego City Employees' Retirement System (SDCERS) Administrator Lawrence Grissom, General Counsel Loraine Chapin, and board of trustees President Peter Preovolos, citing...

Colorado Plan Examines Emerging Markets.
October 10, 2005... The board of the $185 million Arapahoe County Retirement Plan is in the midst of discussions about emerging markets investments, and could make decisions on the new asset class in the coming months. Adrian Ciazza, board chair, said that the...

Haverhill On Prowl for Mid-Cap.
October 10, 2005... The board of the $150 million Haverhill Retirement System has issued an RFP for a manager to oversee approximately $11.3 million in a mid-cap growth account. Kathi Gallant, the plan's chief administrator, did not immediately return calls...

-ST_BY-.
October 10, 2005... Va. Foundation Eyes Large-Cap Value The $200 million Danville Regional Health Foundation has launched a search for a manager to oversee a $40 million large-cap value mandate. Full details of the search could not be determined as calls...

Mass. Plan Eyes High Yield; Cans Incumbent.
October 10, 2005... The $140 million City of Waltham Contributory Retirement Plan has launched a search for a manager to oversee a high yield account valued at $8 million. Joe Juppe, the plan's executive director, said that the search was initiated to replace...

OPERS Names New Director of Investments.
October 10, 2005... The $65 billion Ohio Public Employees' Retirement System has named Jennifer Hom as its new director of investments after a nation wide search, said Michelle Kowalik, plan spokeswoman. Hom's appointment replaces Neil Toth who succumbed to...

Texas Plan Selects Small-Cap Finalists.
October 10, 2005... The $1.17 billion City of Austin Employees' Retirement System has narrowed its list of manager finalists for its small-cap equity search to three contenders. Steven Edmonds, the system's executive director and senior fund officer, declined...

Idaho Drops Int'l Equity Manager.
October 10, 2005... The $8.8 billion Public Employees Retirement System of Idaho (PERSI) has reportedly terminated SG Asset Management from a mandate of undisclosed size, after the departure of Saker Nusseibeh, head of the firm's global equity division. ...

Wood Creek Appoints New CIO.
October 10, 2005... Wood Creek Capital Management, the recently created joint venture of Norfolk Management Group and Babson Capital Management, announced last week that Avtar Vasu was appointed as Wood Creek's CIO. Prior to his appointment, Vasu was the VP of...

New Hampshire Board Snags New Chairman.
October 10, 2005... The Executive Council of New Hampshire has confirmed Charlton McVeagh as the new chairman of the board of trustees of the New Hampshire Retirement System on Oct. 5. New Hampshire Governor John Lynch nominated McVeagh last month (See IMW,...

New Jersey Finest and Bravest to Sue State.
October 10, 2005... The Professional Firefighters Association of New Jersey (PFANJ) and the New Jersey State Fraternal Order of Police (NJFOP) are said to have filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Police and Firemen's Retirement System against the state. The...

SSgA Rolls Out New Alpha Strategy.
October 10, 2005... State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has launched its new strategy the Global Alpha Plus Strategy. The new portfolio aims to fill a gap in the market for higher-risk, higher-return international equitiy products, while maintaining a highly...

INVESCO's Johnson Touts Assembly-line Approach.
October 10, 2005... Think of INVESCO's Global Fixed-Income business as the early Ford Motor Company of the investment management industry. It's not that the nation's eighth-largest manager of active domestic fixed-income funds and the largest manager of stable...

Odds & Ends.
October 10, 2005... *Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss has appointed Kirby Smith, CFA and Matthew Egenes, CFA to its client service portfolio specialists team. Smith worked as a managing director of institutional equity sales for Bear Stearns, while Egenes most...

South Carolina Creates Investment.
October 17, 2005... The creation of the six-member South Carolina Retirement Investment Commission puts $26 billion in state pension money in the hands of a group of appointed private financial advisors who have no one regulating them. In this system it is the job...

ACERA May Issue Large-Cap Value RFP: Pacific Financial Research Might be Out.
October 17, 2005... The $3.9 billion Alameda County Employees' Retirement Association (ACERA) may soon initiate a search for a large-cap value manager to possibly replace Pacific Financial Research (PFR) on a roughly $315 million account. Full details of the...

Iowa PERS Extends RCA Watch...
October 17, 2005... The $18.4 billion Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System (IPERS) has extended RCM's watch list status until Dec. 1. RCM, which manages an $803 million large-cap growth domestic equity account for IPERS was first placed on watch in 2003 after...

...Scraps Consultant Search.
October 17, 2005... The $18.4 billion Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System (IPERS) has decided to cancel its consultant search which had been put on hold since June (See IMW, 7/18/05). Wilshire Associates is the plan's incumbent consultant. The search,...

Fox Pro Bolts to Research Affiliates.
October 17, 2005... As first reported on IMW's Web site imweekly.com (10/7/05) Stephen Brennan, director of sales at the Little Silver, N.J.-based, Fox Asset Management, has left the firm to join Research Affiliates, according to sources familiar with the...

Oregon Retirees to Pay For PERS Error.
October 17, 2005... A large mistake seems to have been made by the board of the $46 billion Oregon Public Employees' Retirement System. Oregon's public employees are going to have to pony-up more than $75 million, while the state reduces $800 million in benefits...

CalPERS May Revamp Alternatives Structure.
October 17, 2005... To move successfully into the future, the California Public Employees' Retirement System's (CalPERS) alternative investment program must restructure its internal operations and reevaluate the nature and number of its commitments. In a...

Investment Management Firms Lean Harder on Marketing: Cluttered Market Demands Consistent Strategies.
October 17, 2005... If asset management firms hope to break through the marketing clutter of an increasingly complex and competitive financial services industry, experts say they must start with a consistent, compelling message. Such a seemingly rote task,...

Boston Capital Launches New REIT.
October 17, 2005... Boston Capital has launched a new REIT strategy. Richard DeAgazio, executive VP, explained that the REIT portfolio was a natural extension of the firm's business. "REITs have become very popular, but there's a segment of the REIT market that...

Asset Allocation Guru Boosts BSAM's Reach: Considering the Launch of a New Hedge Fund by the End of the Year.
October 17, 2005... Bear Stearns Asset Management (BSAM) bolstered its international capabilities by acquiring equity research firm Heckman Global Advisors (HGA), the firm founded by Leila Heckman three years ago following her 10-year stint as the global asset...

Odds & Ends.
October 17, 2005... *Yanni Partners announced that Mathew Wilkinson was hired as a consulting analyst. Wilkinson has also worked as financial advisor for American Express Corporation. *Old Mutual Asset Management and ForstmannLeff announced an agreement under...

SEC: Soft Dollars Only for Research, Data.
October 24, 2005... Investment managers may use soft dollar commission for investment research, but not for hardware, according to recent formal guidance - 28(e)-issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC allows soft dollars to be used as...

Oklahoma Cops Peruse European Private Equity.
October 24, 2005... The $1.3 billion Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement System (OPPRS) may soon initiate a search for a European private equity fund-of-funds manager, if a recommendation to create such an allocation is approved by the plan's full board. ...

Arkansas Teachers Audit Reveals Blunders.
October 24, 2005... For the third fiscal year in a row, an audit of the $8.3 billion Arkansas Teachers Retirement System (ATRS) revealed errors that involved millions of dollars. In fiscal year 2002, an audit found that the system understated the cost of its...

Big Apple Funds Claim WorldCom Settlement.
October 24, 2005... The five funds of the $94.2 billion New York City Retirement System (NYCRS) have reached an agreement to accept $78.87 million for the securities fraud action that resulted from the market collapse of WorldCom stocks and bonds after disclosure...

OCERS Plots Dual Consultant Search.
October 24, 2005... The board of the $5 billion Orange County Employees' Retirement System will authorize its staff to jumpstart an RFP process for a real estate and a general consultant during a meeting today. Full details of the proposed search could not be...

Minnesota Teachers Seeks New Director.
October 24, 2005... The $17.5 billion Minnesota Teachers' Retirement Association (MTRA) is conducting a search for a new executive director to replace current executive director Gary Austin. Carol Sellner, an officer in MTRA's human resources department,...

Denver PERS Seeks New Exec. Director.
October 24, 2005... The $2.4 billion Denver Public Schools Retirement System (DPSRS) will initiate a search for a new executive director in November, a move that will replace Bob Scott, who is scheduled to retire at the end of this year. Scott was appointed...

Santa Barbara Hires for Int'l Equity.
October 24, 2005... The $1.2 billion Santa Barbara County Employees' Retirement System (SBCERS) has hired New Star Asset Management to manage an active international equity portfolio that will be benchmarked against the MSCI EAFE + Canada Index. Oscar Peters, the...

SDCERS to Hire for Large-Cap Core.
October 24, 2005... The $3.64 billion San Diego City Employees' Retirement System (SDCERS), has terminated Sector Capital Management from a $136 million equity large-cap core account and will select one of four finalist to oversee the account. The plan, which...

Private Equity Fundraising Booms in 3Q.
October 24, 2005... More capital poured into private equity funds during the first three quarters of 2005 than during all of last year, according to a report released last week by research firm Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association...

Private Equity Firm to Open New Shop.
October 24, 2005... Private equity firm Adams Street Partners will open a new office location in Palo Alto, California in early 2006. This will be the firm's third location, joining an office in Chicago and one in London. Bon French, CEO and CIO at Adams...

More Hedge Funds Aim For Side Pockets.
October 24, 2005... As hedge funds looking for better returns put more money into private equity-like investments, they are increasing their use of a device that creates a kind of mini-private equity fund within the fund. Known as a "side pocket," it allows the...

Emerging Managers; Jewels in the Rough.
October 24, 2005... In the world of institutional investing, bigness is pretty much a given, but Tina Byles-Williams, founder, CEO and CIO of the Philadelphia-based FIS Group, contends it may not be the best way to earn a good return. Byles-Williams has...

Odds & Ends.
October 24, 2005... *John Torres is the most recent board member of the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System (SDCERS) board to resign. On Oct. 18 Torres resigned citing legal complications that he feels are distracting him from his duties at SDCERS. The...

Clarification.(Correction Notice)
October 24, 2005... In the "Asset Allocation Guru Boosts BSAM's Reach" story in IMW's Oct. 17 issue, the article suggests that Bears Stearns Asset Management acquired TimesSquare Capital Management. Bear Stearns only acquired TimesSquare's fixed-income...

N.M. State Treasurer Tenders Resignation.
October 31, 2005... After months of dealing with the possibility of impeachment, (See IMW, 10/03/05) New Mexico State Treasurer Robert Vigil submitted a letter of resignation to Governor Bill Richardson and Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron. ...

Oklahoma Teachers' Preps For Dual Search Puts Causeway Capital on Alert'.
October 31, 2005... The $7.7 billion Teachers' Retirement System of Oklahoma will issue RFPs for a large-cap growth and an all-cap growth manager sometime this week. Tom Beavers, the plan's executive secretary, said that the large-cap growth manager would...

LACERA Recommends Manager Termination.
October 31, 2005... The investment staff of the $28 billion Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement Association has recommended the termination of its large-cap growth manager, Oak Associates, according to the agenda for the plan's Oct. 26 investment committee...

AIG Gets Booted From New Hampshire.
October 31, 2005... The $4.7 billion New Hampshire Retirement System has terminated AIG Global Investment Group from an absolute return strategy of an undetermined size. Kim France, the plan's spokeswoman, said that the firm's release was approved during an...

N.M. ERB Outsources Bond Portfolio.
October 31, 2005... The $7.5 billion New Mexico Educational Retirement Board has moved to outsource its $1.3 billion fixed-income account following the retirement of Rose Struck, the plan's fixed-income portfolio manager, said Frank Foy, plan CIO. "[Struck]...

PERAC Completes Middlesex Probe.
October 31, 2005... The Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC), has finally released its findings of the comprehensive investigation into the loss of roughly $38 million in a currency overlay strategy previously managed by the now defunct...

MOSERS Hires Terror Watchdogs.
October 31, 2005... The $6 billion Missouri State Employees' Retirement System (MOSERS) has hired two companies to screen businesses for possible links to terrorists. Conflict Securities Advisory Group and Regulatory Data Corp. International will provide...

Texas ERS Jump Starts Suit Against Putnam.
October 31, 2005... The $21 billion Texas Employees' Retirement System has launched a suit against former manager Putnam Investments, alleging fraud, breach of contract, and making false representations. The claims refer to the 2003 investigations regarding market...

LSERS Selects Real Estate Finalists.
October 31, 2005... The board of the $1.4 billion Louisiana School Employees' Retirement System has selected four finalists for its $70 million real estate portfolio. Julia LeBlanc, plan CIO said that the board will interview JPMorgan Investment Management...

CalPERS CIO Join U.K. Money Manager.
October 31, 2005... Mark Anson, CIO of the $192 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), will reportedly take over as CIO of the London-based money manager, Hermes Pension Management Limited in January 2006. Anson will replace Tony...

PIMCO Reshuffles Before El-Erian's Impending Departure.
October 31, 2005... The impending departure of Mohamed El-Erian from Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO), has led to changes in the firm's structure. El-Erian, who will leave PIMCO to join Harvard Management Company as CEO and president in early 2006,...

SEC Proposes Curbs on Soft Dollars: Restricts Usage to Advice, Analysis, Reports.
October 31, 2005... Questions having to do with compromising the best execution of trades and paying above-average trading commissions in exchange for the receipt of soft dollars have prompted the Securities and Exchange Commission to propose new guidelines with...

Peters Touts Benefits of Risk Parity Strategy.
October 31, 2005... The way Edgar Peters looks at it, investors who are seeking a diversified portfolio and who then put their money in a fund that is set up as a classic 60% equity/40% bond mix are not getting what they're paying for. "The problem is that...

Odds & Ends.
October 31, 2005... *President George Bush has nominated Ben Bernanke to serve as chairman of the Federal Reserve. If confirmed by the senate, Bernanke will succeed Alan Greenspan when he retires on Jan. 31. Bernanke is chairman of the president's Council of...