Tag: Randy Diamond

CalPERS’ In-House Private Debt Program Is Dead

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.ai-cio.com/news/calpers-in-house-private-debt-program-is-dead/

Excerpt:

A plan by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) to run its own multibillion dollar private debt investment program is dead for now after the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee rejected a bill that would have allowed the pension system to keep borrowers’ closely guarded financial information confidential.

The rejection by the committee last week is a major setback for the $469 billion pension system. CalPERS officials had planned to give out as much as $23 billion to companies seeking loans in the private debt market in an effort to boost financial returns for the system.

A day after the legislative committee’s vote, CalPERS Board Vice President Theresa Taylor asked at a board meeting whether the pension system could create an asset allocation that would allow it to earn its assumed rate of return without the in-house private lending program. Its current rate of return is 6.8%.

CalPERS does not need legislative permission for its investment program, but it needed state lawmakers to carve out an exemption to the state’s public disclosure laws to create the private debt program.

Author(s): Randy Diamond

Publication Date: 19 July 2021

Publication Site: ai-CIO

CalPERS Rejects Reinvesting in Tobacco Again

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.ai-cio.com/news/calpers-rejects-reinvesting-tobacco/

Excerpt:

Saying he wanted to boost portfolio returns, California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) investment committee member Jason Perez made a second try at reversing the pension plan’s ban on tobacco stocks. But Perez’s proposal was overwhelmingly rejected Monday night.

At a meeting of the CalPERS investment committee, Perez’s new attempt—his first was in March 2019—attracted only one other vote on the 13-member panel, from Margaret Brown. The ban has been in place since 2001.

The $440 billion pension system would have earned an additional $3.6 billion in investment gains if it kept tobacco stocks in its portfolio between Jan. 1, 2001, and June 30, 2020, according to an analysis by Wilshire Associates, a CalPERS general investment consultant.

Author(s): Randy Diamond

Publication Date: 16 March 2021

Publication Site: ai-CIO

Controversy Still Follows CalPERS’ CIO Resignation

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.ai-cio.com/news/controversy-still-follows-calpers-cio-resignation/

Excerpt:

Now, a former CalPERS board member and investment officer has filed a lawsuit demanding that the pension system turn over transcripts, recordings, and notes from a closed-door board meeting held on August 17 allegedly to discuss the Meng affair. Meng resigned on August 5.

J.J. Jelincic’s lawsuit, filed on March 8 in Alameda County Superior Court in Northern California, said the board discussed Meng’s resignation at the meeting and violated the state’s open meetings law.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the CalPERS board’s Governance Committee is scheduled to discuss and possibly approve a plan that would require the full 13-member pension system board to be notified when a top system official is under internal investigation because of possible wrongdoing.

Author(s): Randy Diamond

Publication Date: 15 March 2021

Publication Site: ai-CIO

CalSTRS Aims for New $2 Billion Sustainable Portfolio

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.ai-cio.com/news/calstrs-aims-new-2-billion-sustainable-portfolio/

Excerpt:

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) plans to build a private markets sustainable investment portfolio to go greener while aiming to maintain its investment returns.

The investment committee of the $282.5 billion pension system, the largest teachers’ retirement fund in the world, is expected to approve the new portfolio at its meetings next week. 

The pension system’s plan calls for investments of $1 billion to $2 billion in the next couple of years—much of it in real estate affordable housing investments, as well as in private equity and infrastructure—according to CalSTRS investment committee material. 

Author(s): Randy Diamond

Publication Date: 24 February 2021

Publication Site: ai-CIO