Florida State Board Announces Finalists to Run Its "Money Market Fund". The
Florida State Board of Administration has announced the
three investment manager finalists chosen to bid to run its
beseiged money market fund-like government investment pool.
Federated Investors,
BlackRock, and
The Bank of New York Mellon have been chosen and will give oral presentations to see who will win the $
9.
88 billion mandate. Applicant needed
5 years of experience managing an S&&P AAAm prime institutional fund with over $10 billion in assets, so only a handful of respondents qualified.
Following a run on assets triggered by SIV and mortgage-related holdings, the
Florida Board took the unprecedented step of halting redemptions in its local government investment pool (LGIP) (
see our Nov. 29 article,
"State Board Halts Redemptions in Florida Local Govt Investment Pool"). BlackRock was brought in as temporary manager and split the formerly $
25 billion LGIP into two pools. The higher quality "
Pool A" fund has stabilized, obtaining a
AAA rating from S&P and staunching outflows. Pool B is being liquidated as debt comes due.
The Florida pool had previously been the largest LGIP in the country.