Products April 29, 2009

Victory Capital Unveils Three Collective Trusts

Cleveland-based Victory Capital Management has launched three collective trust funds bringing its domestic and international capabilities to 11 strategies, the firm said in a news release.
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The new funds, which will be advised by Victory, are the KeyBank N.A. EB Large Cap Growth, KeyBank N.A. EB Mid Cap Value, and the KeyBank N.A. EB International Large Cap Core Fund.

According to the release, the KeyBank N.A. EB Large Cap Growth Fund will invest in domestic large-cap equity securities above $15 billion market capitalization. The KeyBank N.A. EB Mid Cap Value Fund will invest in a diversified portfolio of medium-sized securities with market capitalization between $2 billion and $15 billion.

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The KeyBank N.A. EB International Large Cap Core Fund will invest in a broad range of international equity securities.

“With increasing demand for collective trust funds in the marketplace, we can offer our clients a wide range of options to meet their investment needs,” said John Kutz, managing director, Retirement Plan Services at Victory Capital Management, in the release. “The new collective trust funds expand Victory’s product line to 11 different strategies, with multiple share classes available to plan sponsors through various recordkeeping programs.”

Compliance April 29, 2009

Judge Dismisses Most of U.S. Sugar ERISA Breach Suit

A federal judge in South Florida has thrown out virtually all of the allegations leveled against U.S. Sugar Corp. of Clewiston, Florida, in a class action lawsuit.
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A South Florida Business Journal report said U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida dismissed 12 of 13 counts in the January 2008 fiduciary beach suit filed by participants in an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).

The suit alleged the company and its top executives violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by trying to deprive shareholders of their right to sell shares of company stock on two occasions when U.S. Sugar was pondering buyout offers.
Middlebrooks asserted in his ruling that the plaintiffs did not exhaust all of their administrative remedies and that they could not claim an ERISA fiduciary breach because they held the shares in an ESOP and not directly.

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The only fiduciary breach claim to survive was made by Mary Rafter, a former secretary and administrative assistant for U.S. Sugar and a direct minority shareholder, according to the news account.

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