Nation-leading investment performance nets Governor's award for PERF
Market-leading investment returns add $3 billion to fund in 2009
INDIANAPOLIS (May 7, 2010) - The nationally-recognized investment team of the Indiana Public Employees' Retirement Fund (PERF) received additional recognition Wednesday with the Governor's Public Service Achievement Award.
In presenting the award, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels noted the team's market-leading investment performance added a half billion dollars to the fund that would not have been possible with simply average investment performance.
In addition, he noted PERF earlier this year was recognized as the Large Public Plan of the Year by Institutional Investor News' Money Management Letter, a newsletter focusing on activities of defined benefit pension plans. According to the publication, "The Indiana Public Employees' Retirement Fund has staged one of the strongest comebacks of the year."
The Governor's and Money Management Letter awards reflect PERF's four-year effort to design and implement a portfolio focused on the long-term and built to withstand dramatic market events. While PERF, like all investors, lost money in the market collapse of 2008, by the end of 2009 the fund's one-year gross return had jumped to 22.61 percent. This return beat the national average by 2.85 percent while adding nearly $3 billion to the fund.
"I'm very proud of our investment team's accomplishments during some of the toughest economic circumstances in a generation," said PERF Executive Director Terren Magid. "Without the steadfast focus of our board of trustees on a prudent, long-term asset allocation, this market-leading performance would not have been possible."
About PERF
With 2009 year-end assets of $14.2 billion, the Public Employees' Retirement Fund (PERF) is headquartered in Indianapolis and serves the needs of more than 220,000 public employees and retirees throughout Indiana.
Indiana PERF is among the better-funded public retirement systems in the nation. The system's aggregate funded status at the end of the 2009 fiscal year was 93.5 percent. Nationally, state pension plans were funded at about 77 percent according to the 2009 Wilshire Report on State Retirement Systems.
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CONTACT:
Jeff Hutson - (317) 234-3401 or jhutson@perf.in.gov
