(a) “Placement agent” means an individual directly or indirectly hired, engaged, or retained by, or serving for the benefit of or on behalf of, an external manager or an investment fund managed by an external manager, and who acts or has acted for compensation as a finder, solicitor, marketer, consultant, broker, or other intermediary in connection with the offer or sale to a state public retirement system in California or an investment vehicle either of the following:

(1) In the case of an external manager within the meaning of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 82025.3, the investment management services of the external manager.

(2) In the case of an external manager within the meaning of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 82025.3, an ownership interest in an investment fund managed by the external manager.

(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), an individual who is an employee, officer, director, equityholder, partner, member, or trustee of an external manager and who spends one-third or more of his or her time, during a calendar year, managing the securities or assets owned, controlled, invested, or held by the external manager is not a placement agent.

(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), an employee, officer, or director of an external manager, or of an affiliate of an external manager, is not a placement agent with respect to an offer or sale of investment management services described in subdivision (a) if all of the following apply:

(1) The external manager is registered as an investment adviser or a broker-dealer with the Securities and Exchange Commission or, if exempt from or not subject to registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission, any appropriate state securities regulator.

(2) The external manager is participating in a competitive bidding process, such as a request for proposals, subject to subdivision (a) of Section 22364 of the Education Code or subdivision (a) of Section 20153 of this code, as applicable, or has been selected through that process, and is providing services pursuant to a contract executed as a result of that competitive bidding process.

(3) The external manager, if selected through a competitive bidding process described in paragraph (2), has agreed to a fiduciary standard of care, as defined by the standards of conduct applicable to the retirement board of a public pension or retirement system and set forth in Section 17 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, when managing a portfolio of assets of a state public retirement system in California.

(d) For purposes of this section, “investment fund” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 7513.8.

(e) For purposes of this section, “investment vehicle” means a corporation, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, association, or other entity, either domestic or foreign, managed by an external manager in which a state public retirement system in California is the majority investor and that is organized in order to invest with, or retain the investment management services of, other external managers.

(Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 704, Sec. 4. (SB 398) Effective October 9, 2011.)