PERAC Approval Date: January 11, 2011
Investment/Supplemental Regulation
Regulation Number 19.01(8): Notwithstanding the provisions of 840 CMR 19.01(8), the Holyoke Retirement Board is authorized to invest up to 10% of its portfolio in private equity.
PERAC Approval Date: December 15, 2010
Investment/Supplemental Regulation
Regulation Number 21.01(2)(3): The Holyoke Retirement Board is authorized to invest in Schroders New Finance Capital’s Opus Commodities Core Plus A Fund. Exchange-traded futures contracts will be used by both SNFC’s internal managers and external managers in the implementation of the fund’s strategy. Use of shorting for relative-value trading is also permitted. Some of the external managers in this Fund may be characterized as hedge funds but since the overall strategy of this Fund is that 100% of its return is explainable by movements in the DJ-UBS commodity index, PERAC’s hedge fund guidelines will not apply to this investment.
PERAC Approval Date: November 30, 2010
Investment/Supplemental Regulation
Regulation Number 21.01(2)(3): The Holyoke Retirement Board is authorized to invest in the INVESCO Balanced-Risk Commodity Strategy. This strategy employs exchange-traded futures contracts in the implementation of its goals. Short positions may be taken in some futures contracts as part of tactical or relative-value trading strategies.
PERAC Approval Date: October 22, 2009
Investment/Supplemental Regulation
Regulation Number 16.04: Notwithstanding the provisions of 840 CMR 16.04, or any other general or special law or regulation, the Holyoke Retirement Board may invest the assets of the Holyoke Retirement System without designating a custodian of said assets under the following terms and conditions:
- The assets of the Holyoke Retirement System are invested solely in pooled/commingled investment vehicles, and
- A commercial bank or savings bank approved by PERAC is retained to assist the Holyoke Retirement Board with cash management
PERAC Approval Date: June 27, 2007
Investment/Supplemental Regulation
Regulation Number 16.08: The Holyoke Retirement Board is authorized to invest in the State Street Global Advisors Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund on a temporary basis. This investment will be made with the liquidated proceeds of Voyageur Asset Management’s Large Cap Growth Fund. After an extended period on the Board’s “watch list”, the Board has voted to terminate this fund, which had been run by Freedom Capital Management prior to that firm’s acquisition by Voyageur, for performance reasons. After considering other possible vendors, the Board’s consultant recommended the SSgA fund on the basis of its low cost and liquidity advantages. This temporary authorization extends to October 31, 2007.
PERAC Approval Date: March 2, 2007
Investment/Supplemental Regulation
Regulation Number 16.08: The Holyoke Retirement Board is authorized to invest in the Fidelity Real Estate Growth Fund III, now run under the umbrella of Pyramis Global Advisors Trust Company. The Board has been a satisfied investor in a predecessor Fidelity Real Estate Growth Fund, and the strategy and the portfolio management team are essentially the same. The Board has received over 100% of its original investment back from Fidelity (Pyramis) and is pursuing this investment in order to maintain its allocation to real estate. The manager has submitted the required regulatory documents.
PERAC Approval Date: February 14, 2007
Investment/Supplemental Regulation
Regulation Number 17.03: Notwithstanding the provisions of the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission regulations, the Holyoke Retirement Board may invest funds of the Retirement System (the “System”) in the fund known as the Institutional Retirement Trust (IRT) International Equity Trust (the “Fund”), and effective as of the date of the initial investment by the System of any of its assets in the Fund, while the assets of the System are so invested, the activities and investments of the Fund, directly or indirectly, shall be deemed to satisfy the prohibited transaction rules set forth in 840 CMR 16.00 et seq. and 840 CMR 17.03 to the extent such activities satisfy the prohibited transaction rules set forth in Section 406 of the U.S. Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), taking into account ERISA Section 408(b)(8) as well as other statutory exemptions under ERISA, and Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 84-14, as amended, Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 91-38, and other available class exemptions.
PERAC Approval Date: February 13, 2007
Investment/Supplemental Regulation
Notwithstanding the provisions of the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission regulations, the Holyoke Retirement Board may invest funds of the Retirement System (the “System”) in the fund known as INVESCO Core Real Estate USA, LLC (the “Fund”), and effective as of the date of the initial investment by the System of any of its assets in the Fund, while the assets of the System are so invested, the assets of the System shall be deemed to include, for purposes of applying the rules set forth in 840 CMR 16.00 et seq. and 17.00 et seq., the System’s interest in the Fund but not any of the underlying assets of the Fund; provided that, at all times, the Fund qualified as a “venture capital operating company” within the meaning of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, and the regulations promulgated thereunder.
PERAC Approval Date: 09/22/2003
Investment/Supplemental Regulation
Regulation Number 16.08: In accordance with Investment Guideline 99-2, the Holyoke Retirement Board is authorized to make a minor modification to its large cap growth equity account with Freedom Capital Management Company. The mandate is switching from a separate account to a commingled fund, the Freedom Large Cap Growth Fund. There is no change in strategy or in the portfolio management team, and total management costs are expected to be lower.
PERAC Approval Date: 07/18/2003
Investment/Supplemental Regulation
Regulation Number 16.08: In accordance with PERAC Investment Guideline 99-2, the Holyoke Retirement Board is authorized to make a modest modification to its domestic equity management mandates with Freedom Capital Management. The Board already has large cap value, large cap growth, and “equity style” mandates with Freedom Capital Management and has voted to make an initial investment in Freedom Capital Management’s Style Weighted Concentrated Fund. This investment will allow the Board to meet its asset allocation target for large cap equities. In this new fund, which has the S&P 500 as its benchmark, Freedom Capital Management will select its best ideas on both growth and value stocks out of the large cap universe in which it currently operates.
PERAC Approval Date: 08/08/2001
Investment/Supplemental Regulation
Regulation Number 16.08: In accordance with PERAC Investment Guideline 99-2, the Holyoke Retirement Board is authorized to modify its large cap equity mandate with Freedom Capital Management by transferring the value portion of the account from a separately managed fund to a commingled fund, the Freedom Large Cap Value Fund. There is no change in investment strategy or benchmark and the modification is expected to result in lower costs to the Holyoke Retirement Board.