Nashville & Davidson County tops benchmark with 36% fiscal-year return

Nashville (Tenn.) & Davidson County Metropolitan Government Employee Benefit Trust Fund returned a gross 36% for the fiscal year ended June 30, above its policy benchmark of 25.8%, said Fadi BouSamra, chief investment officer of the $3.6 billion pension fund, in an email.

For the three, five and 10 years ended June 30, the pension fund returned an annualized gross 15.8%, 14% and 11%, above their respective benchmarks of 10.5%, 8% and 8%.

The pension fund returned a gross 4.5% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020.

By asset class, private equity returned a gross 75.8% for the year ended June 30 (above its policy benchmark of 62%); followed by domestic equity with a gross 41.1% (below the policy benchmark of 43.8%); international equity, 37.2% (35.7%); fixed-income alternatives, 24.5% (15.6%); real assets, 18.1% (7.4%); and fixed income, 7.7% (-0.3).

As of June 30, the pension fund's actual allocation was 25% private equity, 19.1% fixed income, 17.9% fixed-income alternatives, 16.1% domestic equities, 12% international equities, 8.3% real assets, 1% equity hedge and 0.6% cash.