Ohio State Teachers assigns $675 million, returns 9.57% in fiscal year

Ohio State Teachers' Retirement System, Columbus, made three new commitments totaling up to $525 million, spokesman Nick Treneff said in an email.

The $78.6 billion pension fund committed $300 million to buyout fund Thoma Bravo Fund XIII; up to $150 million to Vista Equity Partners Fund VII, a middle-market private equity fund; and $75 million to TowerBrook Investors V, a buyout fund managed by TowerBrook Capital Partners. The commitments mark STRS' eighth with Thoma Bravo, third with TowerBrook and second with Vista Equity Partners.

The pension fund also made a follow-on commitment of $150 million to Tiger Iron Great River Fund, a venture capital fund of funds managed by Tiger Iron Capital. STRS originally committed $100 million to the fund in September 2017.

Separately, the pension fund reported a fiscal-year return of 9.57%, 63 basis points above its primary benchmark. The pension fund returned an annualized 8.12%, 9.26% and 7.04%, respectively, in the three, five and 10 years ended June 30, compared to their respective benchmarks of 7.58%, 8.98% and 7.05%. It returned a gross 14.29% in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2017.

The best-performing asset class for the fiscal year ended June 30 was domestic equities at 16.21%, above its benchmark of 14.78%. Alternative investments (which consists of private equity and opportunistic/diversified strategies) returned 13.59% (no one-year benchmark), while real estate returned 9.08%, above its benchmark of 6.74%. International equities returned 7.15%, below its benchmark of 7.87%, and fixed income returned -0.06%, above its benchmark of -0.3%.

As of June 30, the actual asset allocation was 29.2% domestic equities, 23.9% international equities, 19.4% fixed income, 10.3% real estate, 8% opportunistic/diversified strategies, 7.4% private equity and 1.8% liquidity reserves.

Targets allocations are 29% domestic equities, 24% international equities, 21% fixed income, 10% real estate, 8% opportunistic/diversified strategies, 7% private equity and 1% liquidity reserves.