By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

A POHNPEI-based foundation has tapped a Guam financial company to handle its investment consulting and custody services.
The Leo Etscheit Foundation and Memorial Fund, or Etscheit Foundation, has appointed Smith Barney Guam to provide financial consulting services to the foundation’s trust fund.
Senior institutional consultant Daniel A. Roland of Smith Barney’s Guam office will take the lead in providing the organization with specialized investment consulting services offered by the Consulting Group, the institutional investment consulting unit of Smith Barney.
“The global investment environment presents significant challenges and opportunities to institutional investors like the Etscheit Foundation,” Roland said, adding that his Guam-based team, the Asia Pacific Group, uses the in-depth research and analysis of Consulting Group to help institutional clients develop investment strategies focused on achieving long-term goals.
Ron Etscheit, grandson of the foundation’s founder and a trustee, said two of the reasons why the Consulting Group was selected over a wide selection of bidders were the firm’s proven track record with institutional clients and its highly disciplined and rigorous investment consulting process.
Ferny S. Perman, another foundation trustee, noted, “With the specialized tools and resources provided by Consulting Group, we feel that, unlike when we were working with our previous service provider, we are now well-equipped to develop investment policy statements, determine asset allocation strategies, conduct investment manager searches, and monitor investment performance over time.”
The Etscheit Foundation was established in 1980 by a bequest from the last will and testament of the late Leo Etscheit, a wealthy and respected Pohnpei businessman.
The foundation is mandated to dispose of income earned in a manner that will provide for the well-being and comfort of in-patients of the Pohnpei State Hospital.