Key Takeaways
- • The New Hampshire Retirement System voted 5-0 on Tuesday, October 22, 2019 to terminate its $239 million relationship with Fisher Investments, citing lewd comments made by founder Ken Fisher at an investment conference on October 8.
- • Six institutional clients have left Fisher Investments in the last two weeks, bringing total asset losses to just over $2 billion, according to CNBC.
- • Fidelity announced it would remove $500 million managed for its Strategic Advisers Small-Mid Cap Fund, following the New Hampshire decision.
- • The Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi placed Fisher Investments on a watch list over "organizational concerns," with $558 million currently invested with the firm.
- • NEPC, the plan's Boston-based investment consultant, recommended ending the relationship under its "Unfavorable News Committee" mandate.
Summary
The New Hampshire Retirement System voted on Tuesday to end its $239 million relationship with Fisher Investments, bringing the total withdrawn from the Camas, Washington-based money manager in recent weeks to more than $2 billion, according to CNBC. The plan's investment committee voted 5-0 to terminate the firm, citing lewd comments made by Ken Fisher, the billionaire founder, at an investment conference on October 8. Marty Karlon, a spokesman for the retirement system, confirmed the rationale. The plan, which has $9.2 billion in assets, will reallocate the money previously managed by Fisher among four other managers.
Six institutional clients have left Fisher in the last two weeks. On Monday, Fidelity said it would remove the $500 million it had managed for its Strategic Advisers Small-Mid Cap Fund. Four government pensions had previously withdrawn close to $1.3 billion from the firm.
NEPC, the Boston-based investment consultant to the New Hampshire plan, also recommended ending the relationship. In a report obtained by CNBC, the consultancy said it created an internal Unfavorable News Committee in 2018 to respond to non-investment negative news events involving its managers, and that Fisher's comments "clearly fit that mandate."
Separately on Tuesday, the Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi said it would place Fisher Investments on a watch list due to "organizational concerns," according to executive director Ray Higgins. Mississippi PERS has $558 million invested with Fisher, within a total pension portfolio of about $28 billion.
CNBC obtained audio recordings of Fisher's remarks at the Tiburon CEO Summit and at a 2018 Evidence-Based Investing conference, where he compared marketing mutual funds to propositioning a woman in a bar. Organizers of both conferences subsequently banned him from speaking again. Fisher apologized in a statement, saying, "Some of the words and phrases I used during a recent conference to make certain points were clearly wrong and I shouldn't have made them."
Six institutional clients have left Fisher in the last two weeks. On Monday, Fidelity said it would remove the $500 million it had managed for its Strategic Advisers Small-Mid Cap Fund. Four government pensions had previously withdrawn close to $1.3 billion from the firm.
NEPC, the Boston-based investment consultant to the New Hampshire plan, also recommended ending the relationship. In a report obtained by CNBC, the consultancy said it created an internal Unfavorable News Committee in 2018 to respond to non-investment negative news events involving its managers, and that Fisher's comments "clearly fit that mandate."
Separately on Tuesday, the Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi said it would place Fisher Investments on a watch list due to "organizational concerns," according to executive director Ray Higgins. Mississippi PERS has $558 million invested with Fisher, within a total pension portfolio of about $28 billion.
CNBC obtained audio recordings of Fisher's remarks at the Tiburon CEO Summit and at a 2018 Evidence-Based Investing conference, where he compared marketing mutual funds to propositioning a woman in a bar. Organizers of both conferences subsequently banned him from speaking again. Fisher apologized in a statement, saying, "Some of the words and phrases I used during a recent conference to make certain points were clearly wrong and I shouldn't have made them."
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