Alaska Permanent Fund Corp., Juneau, ended the fiscal year above $50 billion for the first time with a preliminary return of 15.5% for fiscal 2014, vs. 15.7% for its composite benchmark.
The sovereign wealth fund reported $51.2 billion in total assets for the fiscal year that ended June 30, up $6.3 billion over the closing value for the prior fiscal year.
Returns for the $21 billion equity portfolios drove performance. The U.S. equity portfolio had the highest return at 27%, global equities returned 25% and the non-U.S. equity portfolio returned 20.2%.
Despite equities providing the overall highest returns, Michael J. Burns, executive director, said the fund is moving toward less public and less liquid assets.
“We can handle illiquidity better than most institutional investors. We're not a pension fund. We have less current demands,” Mr. Burns said in an interview.
The fund's private equity portfolio returned 24.3%; infrastructure, 12.9%; and real estate, 12.7%.
“Real estate is never going to compete with a hot equity market. It's like an orchestra; everybody has a role to play. But when you get those kind of returns, plus stability, it's attractive,” said Mr. Burns.
Real-return strategies returned 11.3% for the fiscal year, non-U.S. bonds returned 5.5%, absolute return was at 5.3% and U.S. bonds, 4.8%.
