New Mexico’s scandal-stricken $15 billion retirement system has appointed a new adviser to help manage the state’s $1.3 billion private equity portfolio.
The new adviser,
Charles Wollmann, a spokesman for the
New Mexico, whose retirement investments returned 14 percent in 2010, has 10 percent of its portfolio in private equity. The state’s private equity target allocation is a range of 6 and 12 percent.
Aldus, the previous adviser, is being sued in New York State for paying an alleged $5 million kickback as part of an effort to gain a role in managing assets of the
In New Mexico, federal investigators are looking into pension investments made under a previous New Mexico governor, Bill Richardson, who was alleged to have steered pension money to investment advisers with whom he had close political ties. Aldus was among the firms named in the scandal. No charges have been announced so far in New Mexico.
Legislators in New Mexico are quickly moving to change state laws to try to remove politics from decisions made by the council, which is unusual among retirement systems in that it appoints the governor to be the chairman of the council’s board.
The current governor, Susana Martinez, said she agrees with most of the proposed rule changes, and said that neither she nor any other politician should be managing the state’s investments.
Separately, New Mexico has committed $50 million to an energy-focused private equity fund, the