CalPERS sold its $8.86 million position in private prison management companies CoreCivic and GEO Group as part of the narrowing of its passively managed customized benchmark of public stock, said Megan White, spokeswoman for the $381.5 billion Sacramento-based pension plan, in an email.
When Yu Ben Meng joined the California Public Employees’ Retirement System in January, he launched a comprehensive review of the pension plan's investment strategies, including a review of its benchmarks and indexes.
As part of that review, CalPERS officials have started to narrow its benchmark based on factors such as materiality, liquidity, geography and governance rights, Ms. White wrote. CalPERS had $188.2 billion in equities as of July 31.
As a result, CalPERS stock holdings in 217 companies including Core Civic and GEO Group were sold, Ms. White said. “It was not a divestment. They were removed from the benchmark.”
Ms. White said she did not have information on the sale dates or additional information about the other companies sold.
