Connecticut Retirement Plans & Trust Funds, Hartford, returned a net 14.2% in the fiscal year ended June 30, to bring its total assets to $32.4 billion, said a news release from Denise Nappier, state treasurer and principal fiduciary of the pension funds.
The state's two largest pension funds that make up 90% of the total assets of the CRPTF — the Teachers' Retirement Fund and the State Employees' Retirement Fund — posted net returns of 14.4% and 14.34%, respectively, for the fiscal year, vs. their investment benchmarks of 13.24% and 13.17%, respectively. The third pension fund, the Municipal Employees' Retirement Fund, returned 13.1%, also above its 12.07% benchmark.
"The 2017 fiscal year experienced substantial market uncertainty associated with the impact of the Brexit referendum, the U.S. presidential election and elections abroad, global monetary policy shifts, rising interest rates and re-energized global equity markets," Ms. Nappier said in the news release. "Through all the volatility, our asset allocation strategy and asset manager performance proved resilient — fully capturing the market upswing and adding significant additional value. Outperforming the market, as reflected in returns above our benchmarks, is always gratifying, particularly for the taxpayers we serve during these tight fiscal times."
The five-year annualized net returns for the Teachers' Retirement Fund and State Employees' Retirement Fund were 8.8% and 8.81%, respectively, above their respective benchmarks of 8.56% and 8.58%.
Returns by asset class were not immediately available, said Lawrence Wilson, deputy treasurer, but the news release did cite the returns of the CRPTF's three equity market funds, which make up 51% of the total assets.
The Developed Markets International Stock Fund returned 24.81%, the Emerging Markets International Stock Fund returned 23%, and the Mutual Equity Fund (primarily domestic equity) returned 19.26% in the year ended June 30.
