Double-digit returns appear to be the norm for pension funds reporting for the year ended June 30, driven by strong equity markets.
Preliminary data from the first funds reporting ranged from 22% for the Oklahoma Teachers' Retirement System to 14.3% for the $11.6 billion Orange County Employees' Retirement System in Santa Ana, Calif.
The $14.1 billion Oklahoma teachers' fund's return surpassed its 18.1% custom benchmark return, Tom Spencer, interim director of the Oklahoma City-based pension fund, said in an e-mail.
The top performer was master limited partnerships, which returned approximately 42%, followed by total domestic equity, 27.6%, and international equity at 21.1%.
Longer term, the pension returned a compound annualized 13.6% for the three years ended June 30, 16.1% for five years and 9% for 10 years.
Its sibling, the $8.6 billion Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System, also in Oklahoma City, returned 18% for the fiscal year ended June 30, outperforming its policy benchmark by 73 basis points, said Mr. Spencer, who is executive director for the fund. That fund's top performing asset class was domestic equity, which returned 25.6%, followed by international equity at 21.9%.
In New York City, the five funds comprising the New York City Retirement Systems achieved an estimated return on investments of 17.4% for the fiscal year ended June 30, according to a news release from Comptroller Scott Stringer. The pension system had a 12.3% return for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2013.
Assets rose 17.2% during the most recent fiscal year, reaching an estimated $160.5 billion and establishing a record for any fiscal year-end.
“Any year in which the pension funds achieve double the assumed rate of return is a good one in my book,” Mr. Stringer said in the release.
Performance for the fiscal year was “unusually strong, given the current investment environment,” said Scott Evans, chief investment officer, in the news release. “Strong growth in our equities portfolio, coupled with a diversified investment strategy, have the pension funds well positioned for the long-term.”
The New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association had a 17.04% return net of fees for its fiscal year ended June 30, said Jonathan Grabel, investment director for the $14.6 billion fund. The preliminary five-year annualized return was 13.1%. The fund returned 13.26% for the prior fiscal year.
Its best performing asset class for the fiscal year ended June 30 was domestic equities, at 25.3%; fixed income was the lowest performer at 5.8%.
Maryland State Retirement & Pension System, Baltimore, returned 14.37% net of fees for the fiscal year ended June 30, the board reported. That exceeded the fund's benchmark of 14.2%, and represented a $5 billion gain for the system, which reached $45.4 billion in assets.
