Asset Managers
Domestic Equities
Golden Capital Management, Charlotte, NC – 1999
Large Cap Equity (All Portfolios)
Benchmark – S&P 500
16 employees, $3.9 billion in assets under management. Golden Capital's Large Cap Value investment process is fundamentally based and quantitatively executed. The primary objective is to construct an actively managed, value portfolio of companies that have a high probability of reporting a positive earnings surprise. They believe that stocks that are fundamentally undervalued and have positive earnings, earnings expectations, and price trends should experience significant price appreciation and multiple expansions. Greg Golden and Jeff Moser manage the portfolio.
Champlain Investment Partners, Burlington VT – 2004
Small Cap Equity (Balanced, Diversified and All Equity Fund Only)
Benchmark – Russell 2000
10 employees, $586 million in assets under management. Champlain seeks to buy at a discount (margin of safety) to the stock’s current fair value by focusing on cash flow from operations. The majority of the analysis is based on internal research of companies that range in market capitalization from $500 million to $1.5 billion. Champlain’s internal due diligence process includes a thorough understanding of a company’s
products or services, an assessment of management, and a quantitative understanding of the income statement, cash flow, and balance sheet ratios and trends. Scott Brayman manages the portfolio.
Non-US Equities
American Funds EuroPacific Growth – Non US Equity Mutual Fund, Los Angeles, CA – 1984
International Equity (Balanced, Diversified and All Equity Funds Only)
Benchmark – MSCI EAFE
357 employees, $120.6 billion in EuroPacific Growth Fund, $1 trillion in total assets under the American Funds group. The fund seeks to provide long-term growth of capital by investing in companies based outside the United States. Invests in strong, growing companies based chiefly in Europe and the Pacific Basin, ranging from small firms to large corporations. Invests primarily in common and preferred stocks, convertibles, American Depositary Receipts, European Depositary Receipts, bonds and cash. All holdings are non-U.S. except a nominal portion that, for liquidity purposes, may be held in U.S. dollars and/or equivalents. Normally, at least 80% of assets must be invested in securities of issuers domiciled in Europe or the Pacific Basin. Fund managed by Stephen Bepler and Mark Denning and team.
Dodge & Cox International Equity Fund, San Francisco, CA – 1930
International Equity (Balanced, Diversified and All Equity Funds Only)
Benchmark – MSCI EAFE
$30.9 billion in the International Equity Fund. Dodge & Cox believes that increased earnings are a primary factor driving increased valuations over the long-term. To affect this view, the firm relies on thorough fundamental
research and a valuation discipline. The portfolio is constructed from the bottom up. The committee regularly reviews the fund’s sector and geographic exposures in absolute terms and relative to the benchmark. They tend to view risk on more of an absolute basis. There are no firm limits on the size of relative sector and country bets. The portfolio typically will have 70-90 stocks. Emerging markets are limited to 20% of the fund. Individual
holdings are limited to 1% to 4% at purchase.
United Methodist Church Foundation, Nashville, TN – 1999
International Equity (Balanced, Diversified and All Equity Funds only)
Benchmark – MSCI EAFE
$26.9 million in the Fund, $88.3 million in assets under management. The portfolio has four underlying managers:
Brandes Investment Partners International Equity Fund, Tradewinds NWQ Global Investors Value Equity Fund, William Blair and Company International Growth Fund and Brandes Investment Partners International Mid-Cap Equity Fund. The International Equity Portfolio offers investment in non-U.S. equities, primarily large capitalization stocks in developed countries. The portfolio is broadly diversified, investing in both non-U.S. value and non-U.S. growth equity security styles, seeking to provide enhanced portfolio stability, independent of global equity style leadership. The portfolio is also diversified to include an allocation to middle capitalization-sized non-U.S. equities. The portfolio may carry substantial risk over and above that of a domestic portfolio, most notably currency and political risk. The portfolio is designed for investors who already have a balanced, diversified core domestic portfolio in place and are looking for additional diversification through socially responsible international exposure.
Fixed Income
State Street Global Advisors Passive Bond Market Index Fund, Boston, MA–1997
Securities include US Treasury, agency, corporate, mortgage-backed, commercial mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities.
(Conservative, Balanced and Diversified Funds Only)
Benchmark – Lehman Aggregate Bond
The strategy of this fund seeks to match the returns of the Barclays Aggregate Index by investing in a well-diversified portfolio that is representative of the domestic investment grade bond market. The overall sector and quality weightings are also matched to the index with the individual security selection based upon security availability and our analysis of its impact on the portfolio’s weightings. Though replication of the index is not possible, a stratified sampling approach is employed to build a portfolio whose broad characteristics match those of the index. Tracking error is continually monitored as the strategy seeks to ensure that investors receive the index returns.
General Board of Pension of The United Methodist Church
Diversified Bond Fund
(Conservative, Balanced and Diversified Funds Only)
Benchmark- Barclays Capital U.S. Universal Index (excluding Mortgage-Backed Securities)
The Diversified Bond Fund is comprised primarily of fixed income securities and employs a combination of active and passive investment management strategies. Bond funds are generally in the moderate range on the
risk-return spectrum. The fund may hold up to 10% in bonds with a below investment grade rating and up to 20% in bonds denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. The fund will also hold mortgage and other types of loans initiated through the General Board’s “Positive Social Purpose Investment Program”. The performance objective is to outperform the investment returns of its performance benchmark over a market cycle (three to five years) by 0.5%, on average, per year. For the active management component, the fund employs different investment management firms to make decisions about the fund’s investments. The fund relies on the professional judgment of its investment managers to seek investments in attractively valued securities that, in their opinion, represent good long-term investment opportunities
General Board of Pension of The United Methodist Church
Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS)
(Conservative, Balanced and Diversified Funds Only)
Benchmark – Barclays U.S. Government Inflation-Linked Bond Index
TIPS objective is to provide investors with current income and to protect principalfrom long-term loss of purchasing power due to inflation. TIPS is intended to complement the Diversified Bond Fund in terms of credit exposure.
Cash Equivalents
Merrill Lynch Institutional Money Market Fund Boston, MA – 2002
(Conservative, Balanced and Diversified Funds Only)
Benchmark – 90-day T-bill
The Institutional Money Market Fund’s objective is to seek maximum current income consistent with liquidity and the maintenance of a portfolio of high quality short- term money market securities that have been rated in the highest rating category for short-term debt obligations by one or more nationally recognized credit rating organizations. Fund management will vary the types of money market instruments as well as the Fund’s average maturity, relative to the value of different securities and future short term interest rates. This Fund’s dollar-weighted average portfolio maturity will not exceed 90 days.
BB&T Money Market, Winston-Salem, NC — 1872
(Conservative, Balanced and Diversified Funds Only)
Benchmark: 90-day T-bill
29,000 employees, $130.8 billion in assets. The investment objective is to provide current income consistent with the preservation of capital and liquidity.
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