Louisiana Municipal Employees’ Retirement System, Baton Rouge, posted a net return of 11% for the fiscal year ended June 30.
The $1.2 billion pension fund’s return exceeded its policy benchmark return of 10.2% for the period, according to a performance report on its website.
For the three, five and 10 years ended June 30, the pension fund returned an annualized net 2.7%, 6.8% and 4.4%, respectively, compared with the respective benchmarks of 1.5%, 6% and 5.6%.
MERS had returned a net 9.2% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023.
For the most recent fiscal year, the pension fund’s return exceeded the median return of 9.9% among the 50 U.S. public pension fund fiscal-year returns tracked by Pensions & Investments as of Sept. 5.
The top-performing asset class for the pension fund was emerging markets equities, which returned a net 24.8% for the fiscal year ended June 30 (above its benchmark return of 12.5%), followed by domestic equities, which returned a net 18.8% (below its 23.1% benchmark); private debt, a net 13.4% (above its 12.6% benchmark); international developed markets equities, 11.1% (11.5%); high-yield fixed income, 6.1% (10.4%); Treasury inflation-protected securities, 2.7% (2.7%); domestic core fixed income, 2.6% (2.6%); cash, 1.7% (3%); international fixed income, -3.4% (0.9%); and core real estate, -7.9% (-10.3%).
As of June 30, the actual allocation was 35.2% domestic equities, 16.9% domestic core fixed income, 12.8% international developed markets equities, 10.8% emerging markets equities, 9.9% core real estate, 4.7% high-yield fixed income, 3.5% international fixed income, 3.2% private debt, 2.5% TIPS and the rest in cash.
The target allocation is 30% domestic equities, 20% domestic core fixed income, 13% international developed markets equities, 12% core real estate, 10% emerging markets equities, and 3% each core real estate, international fixed income, private debt, private equity and TIPS.
