CalPERS reports improved earnings
The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the country's biggest government pension fund, closed out its 2009-10 fiscal year, reporting a net return on investments of 13.3%And:
The results for the 12 months ending June 30 represented a significant improvement from the 23.4% loss in the previous year during the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
CalPERS ended the most recent fiscal year with a total portfolio worth $200.5 billion, substantially down from a record high of $260.4 billion on Oct. 31, 2007.
"This updated report indicates a gain of more than $40 billion since our turn-around from the lowest point of the recession in March 2009," said Chief Investment Officer Joseph Dear. "We also beat our benchmark of 12.95% and eclipsed return targets for every asset class except real estate. But even that asset class improved dramatically over what we reported in July."
CalPERS' reported significant gains in a number of areas: global fixed equity including bonds rose 20.4%; private equity 23.9%; publicly traded stocks up 14.4% and commodities, infrastructure, forestland and inflation-linked bonds up 8.7%....
CalPERS to invest $500 million in green portfolio
CalPERS, the country’s largest public pension fund, is looking to turn over a new, green leaf by investing $500 million in environmentally friendly companies.
The new green portfolio will be managed in-house by the $219-billion California Public Employees Retirement System. The money will go into firms that work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, produce renewable energy, create clean water and waste options or support carbon trading efforts.
It’s a “more robust, quantitative strategy” that focuses on large-scale support of “positive change by top performers that have improved share value and also done good for the environment,” CalPERS board President Rob Feckner said in a statement....
