Assets of the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management...

Assets of the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, Boston, rose 14.4% in 2004 to $36 billion, the second consecutive year that the board beat its statutory 8.25% benchmark, state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill announced. The board's assets rose 26.3% in 2003. Mr. Cahill said in a news release that PRIM's $10 billion rise in assets over the past two years was tied to the board's 2003 decision to diversify the fund's asset mix; the system cut allocations to U.S. stocks and bonds and put more in hedge funds, high-yield bonds, emerging market debt, emerging market equities and timber.