$1.7 billlion Philadelphia investment firm closing

Philadelphia International Advisors, a 13-year-old, $1.7 billion-asset Center City-based investment firm for pension plans and other large investors, will close at the end of June, Joe Langella, director of managed accounts, confirmed to me in an email.

The shutdown "is related to the decision by Founder and President Andrew Williams to retire for health reasons," according to Pensions & Investments magazine's daily online-subscriber edition, citing the City of Sarasota Firefighters' Pension Board, which was informed of the shutdown earlier this week.

PIA managed $3 billion when Williams and his colleagues separated from Glenmede Trust to form PIA in 2002. PIA's quantitative investor group has moved to Segall Bryant & Hamill Investment Counsel, a Chicago firm.