Fund shifts investments among managers

ANCHORAGE (AP) -- The board of the Alaska Permanent Fund has fired a New York City company that managed about $300 million of the fund's stock investments using the so-called ''value'' style.

Ark Asset Management had been on the permanent fund's ''watch list'' for generating returns that lagged behind the market.

The board voted Friday to transfer the cash and stocks to a new company, Brinson Partners of Chicago. That company will invest half the money in U.S. large-cap value stocks and half in nondomestic stocks.

The $26.6 billion Permanent Fund uses many firms to invest its money in stocks, bonds and real estate. It periodically hires or fires companies based on the returns they generate.

Ark was one of the first stock-management companies that the Permanent Fund employed, serving 16 years, a fund spokesman said.