Tremont Advisers wins two pension fund mandates

Date: Monday, August 5, 2002

TREMONT ADVISERS WINS TWO PENSION FUND MANDATES: Rye, NY, August 5, 2002 -- Tremont Advisers, Inc. announced that, as part of its effort to reach out to pension funds interested in alternative investments, the firm has won mandates from two major pension funds to assist with those funds' hedge fund allocations. During the past year, Tremont has focused its efforts on introducing its services to pension funds globally. According to president Barry Colvin, the firm has received substantial interest from these funds and expects that such institutional clients will make up a growing part of Tremont's business as pension funds decide to move forward with investments in the asset class. "Our firm's long experience with institutional and financial intermediaries, along with the previous experience of our senior management in working with retirement funds, makes Tremont an ideal partner for pension funds interested in hedge funds," said Colvin. "We look forward to continue serving this segment of the market." Austin-based Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) has hired Tremont to advise the system in managing its strategically traded security investments. Tremont will assist TRS with monitoring existing funds and the selection of new funds. The New York City-based YMCA Retirement Fund has tapped Tremont to create and structure a $50-million fund of hedge funds. Tremont will actively manage the strategy allocation and manager selection of the fund and monitor the risk of the fund in part through tools developed by RiskMetrics and Tremont. This represents theYMCA's first foray into hedge fund investing. "We are pleased to have been chosen by two leading pension funds to assist with their hedge fund investments," said John Hock, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Sales at Tremont Advisers. "Clearly, pension funds are increasingly looking to make hedge funds a part of their portfolios. The ability to obtain portfolio transparency as well as to earn returns non-correlated to the broad market are making hedge funds an appealing alternative asset class." Hock noted that Tremont has been working closely with institutional investors to provide the type of portfolio information, including risk information, that they require. "Most research shows that hedge funds have had lower levels of volatility than some traditional asset classes," said Hock. "We provide investors with reports about risk at all levels of the portfolio so that there is true risk transparency. We assisted in the development of these tools specifically to be responsive to the needs of institutional investors." Tremont estimates that institutional investors, such as pension funds, only make up a small percentage of the estimated $600-billion in global hedge fund assets. However, institutional involvement in the asset class is expected by Tremont to grow steadily over the next several years. Tremont Advisers, Inc., an affiliate of OppenheimerFunds, Inc., is a diversified holding company that, through its subsidiaries, conducts a multi-faceted global alternative investment business consisting of consulting services, database sales and information, and proprietary investment product development and distribution. Through its London-based subsidiary, Tremont TASS (Europe) Limited, the firm provides data on the performance of more than 2,500 alternative investment managers and funds and promotes Tremont’s advisory products and services in Europe and the United Kingdom. Tremont manages more than $1.5 billion in assets invested in its proprietary products, advises on more than $8 billion in alternative investments and, through its offshore insurance affiliate, has more than $200 million in insurance policies backed by hedge funds in force. Tremont is headquartered in Rye, New York, and has offices in Toronto, Bermuda and London.