The New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany, returned 0.19% for the fiscal year ended March 31, the fund's lowest fiscal year return since 2009, Thomas DiNapoli, the state comptroller and sole trustee of the pension fund, announced on Monday.
The fund's assets totaled an estimated $178.1 billion as of March 31, down 3% from the previous year.
“Despite weak equity markets, the fund's diversified portfolio and our investment team delivered a positive return,” Mr. DiNapoli said in a news release on the results.
The top-performing asset class for the fiscal year was real estate, which returned an estimated 13.14%, followed by private equity, at 9.12%; opportunistic alternatives, 4%; Treasury inflation-protected securities, 2.26%; core fixed income, 1.81%; cash, 0.88%; non-core fixed-income, -0.07%; domestic equities, -0.54%; global equities, -3.61%; absolute-return strategies, -4.78%; international equities, -8.54%; and real assets, -16.64%.
As of March 31, the fund's asset allocation was 34.9% domestic equities, 20.2% core fixed income, 13.1% international equities, 7.8% private equity, 6.9% real estate, 4.6% global equities, 3.6% TIPS, 3.4% absolute return, 2.5% cash, 1.7% non-core fixed income, 1% opportunistic alternatives and 0.3% real assets.
An absolute-return portfolio restructuring focused on fee reductions and market exposure is underway, the comptroller's office noted in the release.
Return figures are estimates. Audited figures are expected to be available in August or September.
