The $167 million Taunton (Mass.) Contributory Retirement System has tapped Jackson, Miss.’s Molpus Woodlands Group, Hancock Timber Resource Group of Boston and Atlanta’s Timbervest as finalists for a $8.5 million timber mandate.
The $12 million City of Sanford (Fla.) Firefighters’ Pension Fund has issued a request for proposals for an international equity manager in an effort to achieve higher returns from active management, according to fund documents.
The $37.6 million Cheltenham Township Pension Board will discuss a foray into commodities at a meeting in November as part of a new asset allocation plan.
The $309 million Pittsburgh Municipal Fund Trust has decided to extend its use of futures to its $140 million equity portfolio.
The $372 million Louisiana State Police Retirement System has hired Prisma Capital Partners to replace hedge fund manager Union Bancaire Privee, which was terminated in the second quarter due to investment exposure to Bernard Madoff and organizational issues.
The Virginia Retirement System (VRS) has added two real estate managers to its roster.
The $2.91 billion Vermont Pension Investment Committee has allocated 5% of its portfolio to fund-of-hedge funds, and will divide the approximately $145 million mandate between Grosvenor Capital Management, Permal Investment Management Services and GAM USA.
The CAD129.7 billion Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has made an AUD375 million investment in Australian real estate as part of a partnership with Australia’s Future Fund and other investors, according to Graeme Eadie, senior vice president of real estate investments.
The $73 million City of Lakeland (Fla.) Police Officers' Retirement System has hired managers for its domestic all-cap value and real estate portfolios. It also plans to interview three firms for a $4 million international equity brief, according to consultant Mike Welker of The Bogdahn Group.
The $416 million Knoxville City Employees Pension Fund hired four managers as part of a portfolio restructuring. Eagle Capital Management will receive $34 million for large-cap value and CastleArk Management will get $34 million for large-cap growth. Blackstone Alternative Asset Management will run a $10 million hedge fund of funds and Tortoise Capital Advisors will invest $20 million in a real-asset-based master limited partnership.
The $1.8 billion Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County pension fund’s investment committee has approved the hire of three real estate managers, four distressed debt managers and two long/short managers.
The Nebraska Investment Council has made a new core open ended real estate commitment for its $7 billion defined benefit plan. The Cornerstone Patriot Fund won a $50 million mandate, putting the fund’s real estate exposure at 4%.
WuThe $7.4 billion San Diego County Employees Retirement System is expected to consider splitting $400 million between a core duration match fixed-income account run by Austin, Texas-based Hoisington Investment Management and a high-yield bond separate account managed by Los Angeles’ Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management at its Aug. 19 meeting.
The City of Miami General Employees’ and Sanitation Employees’ Retirement Trust has upped the ceiling for international equities to 15% from 10% of the $535 million portfolio.
The $353 million Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund has tapped Santa Monica’s Wilshire Associates as its general consultant. Wilshire was chosen over both New York-based Buck Consultants and incumbent Merrill Lynch.
The $47 billion Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System has renewed its mandate with real estate consultant Courtland Partners, after it re-bid the firm’s contract in accordance with a regular schedule.
The $72.7 billion State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) has hired five private equity managers and one real estate manager.
The 283.4 million City of Aurora (Colo.) General Employees Retirement Board voted to cut core bond manager Denver Investments’ $59.8 million mandate by $3.5 million and add that money to PIMCO’s $ 30.8 million core plus bonds portfolio.
The $431 million City of Austin Police Retirement System approved a $5 million investment in a multi-strategy fund-of- hedge funds run by Boston-based Intercontinental Capital Management and an additional $3.5 million investment in CapitalSpring Franchise Equity Capital Partners III at its June meeting, according to fund documents.
The $375 million Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District Retirement System has entered negotiations with Stone Harbor Investment Partners, concluding its search for a manager to handle $20 million in emerging market fixed income.
The following directory includes search and hire activity from news and information service iisearches for the two weeks ending Wednesday, Aug. 4.
The $12.4 billion Los Angles Fire and Police Pension System will consider cutting Philadelphia-based FIS Group at its board meeting today due to organizational changes and poor investment performance.
The $4.8 billion New Hampshire Employees’ Retirement System has terminated two small-cap managers as it continues to restructure its domestic equity investments.
The $68 billion New York State Teachers Retirement System has tapped Philadelphia-based Aberdeen Asset Management to oversee an MSCI ACWI ex-U.S. international equity mandate valued at up to up to $250 million. The fund has also committed $50 million to the Cornerstone Patriot Fund, $75 million apiece to the Lone Star Real Estate Fund II and the Lone Star Fund VII, and roughly $47.7 million to the Inflexion 2010 Buyout Fund II. The fund also took San Francisco-based Progress Investment Management’s $500 million domestic small-cap equity mandate and rolled it into an all-cap domestic equity strategy. Progress will continue to manage the assets for one year.
The $2.95 billion Vermont Pension Investment Committee could be facing an eventful August, said Committee Chair Stephen Rauh. The plan will make the final decision on a hedge fund-of-funds commitment and potentially cut its assumed rate of return. It also plans to complete the funding of two of its equity index investments.
The $10.6 billion New Mexico Public Employees Retirement System has hired Metropolitan West Asset Management and Dimensional Fund Advisors to manage $350 million in small-cap equities.
The $800 million Wayne County (Mich.) Retirement System has tapped New York’s Lazard Asset Management to run an emerging market equity portfolio valued at roughly $10 million.
The $280 million Town of Greenwich (Conn.) Retirement Board has tapped Boston-based Loomis, Sayles & Co., New York’s Stone Harbor Investment Partners and Newport Beach, Calif.-housed PIMCO to run a fixed-income allocation of undisclosed size.
The $20 billion Iowa Public Employees Retirement System will consider changes to its asset allocation at its September 16 board meeting, as part of its annual review.
The $1.7 billon Santa Barbara County Employees Retirement System is expected to select either BlackRock, Cutwater Asset Management or McDonnell Investment Management to run a $50 million intermediate government bond mandate at its July 28 meeting.
The $104 million Pompano Beach General Employees Retirement System has hired Stralem & Company for a $12 million large-cap growth equity mandate.
The Oregon State Treasury, which manages the state’s $50 billion public employee retirement fund as well as its common school and state accident insurance funds, is pressing two of its money managers to lower their fees.
The San Mateo County Employees Retirement System is slated to discuss conducting an asset/liability study at its July 27 board meeting.
The $9.7 billion Los Angeles City Employees Retirement System is slated to consider its 2010 strategic plan for its real estate portfolio at its July 27 meeting.
The $4.8 billion New Hampshire Retirement System has folded its 5% global equity allocation into its 15% international allocation. The move resulted from a study conducted by the fund’s consultant, NEPC, which determined that using a global allocation gave too much weight to domestic equity.
Ryder System, with $946 million in defined benefit assets, has contributed $2.5 million to its Canadian pension plan so far this year, and plans to add $2.5 million more by year’s end.
The $9.6 billion Arkansas Teachers Retirement System has changed investment guidelines for two of its equity managers.
The $1.6 billion Denver Employees Retirement Plan tapped New York-based Prisma Capital Partners to run an $80 million hedge fund-of-funds mandate.
The $3.1 billion Chicago Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund’s consultant, Cambridge, Mass.-based NEPC, will conduct an asset/liability study for the fund in September.
The $9.6 billion Arkansas Teachers Retirement System has changed investment guidelines for two of its equity managers, said Executive Director George Hopkins.
The $22.5 billion Nevada Public Employees Retirement System hired Manning & Napier Advisors to take charge of a $450 million international equity mandate, confirmed cio Ken Lambert.
The $13.3 billion New Mexico State Investment Council is looking for a hedge-fund-of-funds manager to oversee $150 million in investments.
The following directory includes search and hire activity from news and information service iisearches for the two weeks ending Wednesday, July 21.
The $22.5 billion Nevada Public Employees Retirement System hired Manning & Napier Advisors to take charge of a $450 million international equity mandate
The $212 million Northampton (Pa.) County Employees Retirement Fund interviewed two potential investment consultant candidates on July 16 and will choose one in September.
The $1.63 billion Educational Employees’ Supplementary Retirement System of Fairfax County has committed $7.5 million each to mezzanine managers Audax Management Company and Newstone Capital Partners.
The $29 billion Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System has tapped Cambridge Associates as its private equity consultant.
The $7.9 billion Orange County Employees Retirement System will meet to evaluate both its 2011 tactical business and multi-year strategic plans on Sept. 9, as part of its annual Strategic Planning workshop
The $2.5 billion Kern County Employees Retirement Association has terminated AXA Rosenberg and Goldman Sachs Asset Management as equity and fixed-income managers, respectively, due to a recent reputational hit to one firm and poor performance by the other.
The investment committee of the $4.9 billion Alameda County Employees Retirement Association has narrowed down its $170 million U.S. small-cap value search and plans to choose a firm at this week’s meeting.
The $5.1 billion Sacramento (Calif.) County Employee's Retirement System mulled hiring Philadelphia-based Mondrian Investment Partners to run a $50 million international developed markets small-cap equity portfolio at its July 15 meeting.
Commonfund has hired Carlton Byrd and Seyonne Kang as managing directors and Karen Morehouse as director of business development coordination and new market sales, to expand its hedge fund, private capital and outsourcing offerings to corporate and public pension funds.
The $212 million Northampton (Pa.) County Employees Retirement Fund will interview two potential investment consultant candidates on July 16, after issuing a request for proposals last year and receiving proposals in late 2009.
The following directory includes search and hire activity from news and information service iisearches for the two weeks ending Wednesday, July 7.
The $4 billion Oakland Police & Fire Retirement System will interview three finalists in its search for a core bond manager. Bradford & Marzec, C.S. McKee or T. Rowe Price will take charge of a $45 million mandate after the fund meets with each manager in July and August.
The $1.6 billion Denver Employees Retirement Plan has awarded up to $37.5 million to Hancock Timber Resource Group’s Hancock Timberland Fund 10.