Administration October 12, 2003

WA Investment Board to Consider Transition Mgr. Recommendation

December 9, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) is scheduled to consider a recommendation next week to hire a pool of three transition managers to handle its asset transitions for five years.

Reported by

Fred Schneyer

WSIB spokeswoman Liz Mendizabal said the board’s Public Market Committee recommended the hiring of:

State Street
Barclays Global Investors
Frank Russell/Goldman Sachs (bid together)

Mendizabal said the committee narrowed down the original seven applicants (See ‘Beast’ of a Transition Manager RFP Comes Due ) to the three finalists and, after hearing oral presentations December 2, decided to recommend the whole group, a recommendation the board is expected to take up at a December 18 session.

The RFP that generated the companies’ bids was considered easily the most exhaustive ever created for transition managers. San Francisco-based Callan Associates, and specifically consultant Bo Abesamis helped manage the RFP process.