CalSTRS today adopted tobacco-free equity benchmarks, concluding a lengthy debate.
As of March 31, the $114 billion California State Teachers Retirement System, Sacramento, had $339 million in tobacco stocks, mostly in passive portfolios. Active managers still will be able to invest outside of their benchmarks, a spokeswoman said.
The domestic benchmark is the Russell 3000 index (ex-tobacco); and the international benchmark is the Morgan Stanley Capital International All-Country index (ex-tobacco).