Ventura County Employees reports preliminary net return of 8.5% for fiscal year

Ventura County (Calif.) Employees' Retirement Association posted a preliminary net return of 8.5% for the fiscal year ended June 30, up from a net -6% last year.

The $7.5 billion pension fund's return fell short of its policy benchmark return of 12.6% for the period, according to an investment report included with materials for its Monday board meeting.

For the three, five and 10 years ended June 30, VCERA's preliminary annualized net returns were 10.1%, 7.9% and 8.1%, respectively, compared to the respective benchmarks of 9.2%, 8% and 8.3%.

The latest fiscal year's significant improvement over the prior year reflects improved returns both in equities and fixed income. For the year ended June 30, the Russell 3000 and Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond index returned 19% and -0.2%, respectively, well above the respective returns of -13.9% and -10.3% for the year ended June 30, 2022.

By asset class, the top performer was domestic equities, which returned a net 19.1% for the fiscal year ended June 30 (above the 19% benchmark), which was followed by global equity at a net 17% (above the 16.5% benchmark); international equities, a net 16.2% (12.7%); real assets, 8.3% (5%); private debt, 6.1% (9.4%); domestic fixed income, 2.2% (-0.9%); U.S. Treasuries, -4.3% (-3.1%); private equity, -4.9% (21.3%); and real estate, -8.4% (-8.1%).

As of June 30, the actual allocation was 27.6% domestic equities, 17.7% private equity, 14.8% international equities, 10% global equity, 9.1% domestic fixed income, 7.1% real estate, 6.4% private debt, 4.6% real assets, 1.5% overlay and the rest in U.S. Treasuries.

The target allocation is 26% domestic equities; 18% private equity; 15% international equities; 9% global equity; 8% each domestic fixed income, private debt and real estate; 6% real assets; and 2% U.S. Treasuries.