Virginia Retirement System, Richmond, returned a net 1.9% for the fiscal year ended June 30, ahead of its 1.3% benchmark return, the pension fund announced on its website last week .
Among the major asset classes, real assets returned 11.6%, followed by investment-grade fixed income at 6.8%; private equity, 6.6%; credit strategies, 1.2%; strategic opportunities, -2.4%; and public equity, -3.2%.
As of June 30, VRS had an asset allocation of 39.8% public equity, 18.4% credit strategies, 17.6% fixed income, 12.9% real assets, 7.6% private equity, 1.9% cash and 1.7% strategic opportunities.
For the three, five and 10 years ended June 30, VRS returned an annualized 7.3%, 7% and 5.6%, respectively, surpassing its benchmark returns of 6.6%, 6.4% and 5.1%, respectively, in each of those periods.
The $68.1 billion pension fund's assumed rate of return is 7%.
“In this year's challenging market, VRS was able to generate a meaningful contribution toward the growth of the fund. However, we remain focused on achieving our long-term actuarial rate of return in order to maintain the fund's ability to fulfill the commitments made to its retirees and beneficiaries,” said Robert L. Greene, board chairman, in a news release.
“The fund concentrated on proven opportunities, such as real assets and fixed income, while adding value through credit strategies and private equity. We will continue to mitigate risk at our targeted return level while working to meet the actuarially assumed rate of return and proceeding with the five-year phase-in of the asset allocation policy for the trust fund.”
A system spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for additional information.