Calpers pulls over $6bn from asset managers |
Date: Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Author: Mark Cobley, Financial News Online
Asset managers have lost out on more than $6bn (€3.9bn)'s worth of mandates at the California Public Employees' Retirement System, after the US' largest and most high-profile pension scheme moved most of the funds to internal management programs.
The pension fund, known as Calpers, took about $5.7bn from a series of domestic and international equity fund managers including Barclays Global Investors, Franklin Portfolio Associates and Capital Group.
According to documents posted on the scheme's website last week, the changes took place in February.
BGI had $1.3bn withdrawn from its quantitative international equity product, Alpha Tilts, and $1.1bn removed from the US domestic equivalent. On February 29, both mandates had negligible amounts remaining.
Capital Guardian Trust, an arm of the Capital Group, had $657m taken from an international equities mandate, while Dutch fund manager Robeco lost $601m. Capital's brief was reduced to $21m and Robeco's to $1.2m.
Meanwhile in US equities, Goldman Sachs Asset Management lost a small-cap brief to run about $400m and $1bn was taken from Franklin Portfolio Associates, a Boston-based money manager with a quantitatively-based process that is owned by the BNY Mellon group.
US managers Geewax Terker and Jacobs Levy also had about $500m each withdrawn.
The pension plan's fixed income portfolio reduced by about $800m, with portfolios run by Brandywine Asset Management, AllianceBernstein, Mondrian Investment Partners, Rogge Global Partners and Western Asset Management all falling in value. All five continue to manage money for Calpers, alongside Pimco and Baring Asset Management.