A proposal allowing state Treasurer Richard H. Moore to invest up to 5% of the $59 billion North Carolina Employees’ Retirement System in alternatives faces opposition from state Rep. Fern Shubert, a Republican member of the House Pensions and Retirement Committee. The bill has already been approved by the state Senate.
The system is already negotiating with the Dogwood Equity Fund, confirmed Katherine Kirkman, a spokeswoman for the treasurer’s office. Dogwood is the management group overseeing the North Carolina Economic Opportunity Fund, which will begin making venture capital investments in rural sections of the state this fall.
Ms. Shubert said she believes it is "incredibly bad policy to use pension funds for socially targeted investments.” Pension fund fiduciaries, she added, have an overriding responsibility to invest solely in the interest of beneficiaries.
The system currently can invest a maximum of 1% of total funds in the asset class.
