Columbus, Ohio�The Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund (OP&F) announced today that they have reopened their search for a small/mid-cap equity manager and will review proposals previously submitted by Dreyfus Investment Advisors, Fidelity Management Trust Company, and Wellington Management Company. The small/mid-cap search was reopened due to the termination of Nicholas-Applegate in January for performance reasons. Nicholas-Applegate has managed up to $380 million for OP&F since first hired in 1994.

The three firms under consideration were all finalists in a manager search for small/mid-cap equity that concluded in the fourth quarter of last year. As a result of that search, OP&F hired Harris Investment Management and funded them with an initial amount of $80 million.

Once this search is finalized, the assets previously managed by Nicholas-Applegate will be distributed between the newly-selected manager and Harris. Fleet Investment Advisors is OP&F's third manager of small/mid-cap equities.

OP&F is one of five state pension funds in Ohio, with assets of $8.9 billion. Created in 1965 as a result of an act passed by the Ohio General Assembly, OP&F is a multi-employer pension fund serving over 50,000 members. External advisors manage all of OP&F's asset classes with the exception of fixed income. OP&F targets asset allocations at 46% to U.S Equity, 18% to U.S. Fixed Income, 17% to International Developed Market Equity, 8% to Real Estate, 5% to High Yield, 3% to Emerging Markets, and 3 percent to Private Equity.

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Contact: Dave Graham (614) 628-8396, dgraham@op-f.org