Arizona Public Safety returns 10.3% for fiscal year

Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System, Phoenix, posted a net return of 10.3% for the fiscal year ended June 30.

The $21.8 billion pension fund’s return fell below its benchmark return of 16.6% for the period, according to a performance report on its website.

Although the pension fund’s latest fiscal-year return fell short of its benchmark, it did exceed the median return of 9.9% among the 56 U.S. public pension funds whose fiscal-year returns have been tracked by Pensions & Investments as of Sept. 9.

For the three, five and 10 years ended June 30, the pension fund returned an annualized net 5.3%, 8.2% and 6.9%, respectively, below their respective benchmarks of 6.3%, 9.8% and 7.8%.

The pension fund had returned a net 7.6% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023.

For the most recent fiscal year, the pension fund’s best-performing asset class was domestic public equities, which returned a net 22.9% (just below its benchmark return of 23.1%); followed by international public equities with a net 11.8% (above its 11.6% benchmark); diversifying strategies, 8.9% (8.3% benchmark); private credit, 6.9% (10%); cash, 6.1% (5.3%); fixed income, 4.5% (2.6%); and global private equity, 3.3% (24.1%).

As of June 30, the pension fund’s actual allocation was 22.9% each domestic public equities and global private equity, 15.4% international public equities, 14.3% private credit, 9.5% fixed income, 6.8% cash, 5.3% diversifying strategies and 2.9% other assets.

The target allocation is 27% global private equity, 24% domestic public equities, 20% private credit, 16% international public equities, 6% fixed income, 5% diversifying strategies and 2% cash.

The global private equity asset class includes buyout funds, venture capital funds, private real estate and real assets.