Maryland Pension’s PE Portfolio Up 11.7 Percent

The board of trustees of the state pension fund said its overall portfolio returned 10.6 percent, or $3.2 billion, on investments for the fiscal year ended June 30, net of management fees. The performance beat out the fund’s market benchmark of 8.6 percent and also exceeded the 7.75 percent assumed actuarial return rate. 

Chief Investment Officer A. Melissa Moye credited “significant value generated from active management” for the strong performance of the fund, which drew a hefty 19.1 percent boost form public equities.

Credit investments generated a return of 13.4 percent return, followed by real estate investments, which delivered a 12.6 percent return. Private equity’s return of 11.7 percent ranked fourth out of eight asset classes listed in the report. The result beat the private equity benchmark of 9.3 percent, according to a spokesman for the fund.

The fund benefited from its 42.3 percent allocation for common stock investments, its largest type of asset, followed by a 16.2 percent allocation for fixed income, 12.6 percent for real return investments, 8.4 percent for credit, 7.3 percent for absolute return, 6.2 percent for private equity and 5.8 percent for real estate.

Public equities also shined for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, according to the latest updates from those big pension funds.