Minnesota State Board of Investment, St. Paul, returned 4.1% on its $57.8 billion combined retirement funds' investments in the third quarter, vs. its custom benchmark's 3.8% return for the same period.
Mansco Perry III, the board's executive director and chief investment officer, told a meeting of the board's investment advisory committee Tuesday that the returns were fueled by gains in the investment board's public and private equity investments.
For the 12 months ended Sept. 30, the combined funds returned 9.1% vs. 9.9% for its custom benchmark. The board returned -4.7% in the third quarter of 2015 vs. the benchmark's -4.5%.
For the latest quarter, public equities returned 5.3% compared to the 5% custom benchmark return; fixed income returned 0.9% vs. 0.5%; and private markets returned 5.2%. The board does not have a benchmark for its private markets portfolio.
The combined funds' target asset allocation is 58% public equities, 20% each fixed income and private markets, and the remainder in cash.
The board oversaw $80.9 billion in state pension and other assets as of June 30.