Ted Ballantine | Pension360

As Demand for Green Bonds Grows, So Does Desire for Transparency

There is growing demand for environmentally friendly investments, and as a result, “green bonds” have become an increasingly popular investment vehicle.

For proof, look no further than CalSTRS, which increased its purchases of “green bonds” by 300 percent in 2014.

But with increased popularity comes increased demands for transparency: what exactly qualifies as a “green” investment?

From Institutional Investor:

With green bonds’ rising prominence comes a need for a single set of clear and science-based criteria for what constitutes “green.” Nuclear power is low carbon, but some would balk at calling it green. And the coal industry would like investors to count fitting a coal-fired power plant with technology to reduce carbon emissions as a clean energy project, although fossil fuel consumption is hardly carbon neutral.

“When you get into the corporate space, you’re dealing with a large number of companies, and transparency is not always as good,” says Colin Purdie, head of global investment-grade credit at London-based asset management firm Aviva Investors.

None of this means Aviva wouldn’t invest in a bond because it doesn’t qualify as “green.” It just means the firm wouldn’t call it that. And therein lies the conundrum. A lot of these bonds would hit investors’ desks even without the green label. If the market is to grow into the large liquid powerhouse its proponents want, it needs a significant roster of corporate issuers to issue green bonds.

Also at issue are third-party verifications proving that issuers are spending funds on the environmentally friendly projects the bonds were designed to finance. This has begun to happen already. More than half of the green bonds issued in 2014 included an independent second opinion on their environmental credentials, from watchdogs such as the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo and Vigeo in Paris, according to data from the Climate Bonds Initiative.

[…]

“I think the biggest concern right now is trying to grow the market and getting more issuers to issue bonds,” says Catherine DiSalvo, investment officer at the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. “We do support third-party verifications. The only problem is that it adds to the expense of issuing a green bond.”

Read the whole piece on green bonds here.

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Sentencing Pushed Back For Defendant in CalPERS Bribery Case

The sentencing of Fred Buenrostro, the former CalPERS executive who pleaded guilty over the summer to accepting bribes, has been pushed back nearly five months to allow further cooperation with the government.

From the Sacramento Bee:

Fred Buenrostro, who left the California Public Employees’ Retirement System in 2008, will now be sentenced May 13 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Buenrostro, who is free on bond, was originally scheduled for a Jan. 7 sentencing.

Buenrostro pleaded guilty in July to accepting bribes from former CalPERS board member Alfred Villalobos, a Reno businessman who earned millions in commissions securing pension fund investments for various private-equity firms. Buenrostro said he took more than $250,000 in cash, casino chips and other benefits from Villalobos, who prosecutors say was trying to gain favor for his investment clients.

As part of his guilty plea, Buenrostro agreed to testify against Villalobos, who has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors and Villalobos’ lawyer filed a joint statement in court last week asking for the postponement “in order to permit Mr. Buenrostro’s ongoing cooperation with the government.”

Judge Charles Breyer agreed to reschedule the sentencing. Buenrostro is expected to get a five-year prison term, according to the plea agreement, although the judge will have the final say.

Villalobos, who is also free on bond, is scheduled to go to trial in February on three felony charges. If convicted, the 70-year-old Villalobos could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison. Villalobos is a former deputy mayor of Los Angeles who served on the CalPERS board in the early 1990s.

More Pension360 coverage of the bribery scandal can be read here.

Minneapolis Pension to Merge With State Plan in 2015

The Minneapolis Employees Retirement Fund won’t exist as of January 1, 2015. That’s because the plan is merging with the Minnesota Public Employees Retirement Association (MPERA).

Reported by Pensions & Investments:

Minnesota PERA already administers the $869 million Minneapolis plan, and its assets are managed by the $80 billion Minnesota State Board of Investment, St. Paul, said Mary Most Vanek, PERA executive director.

The Minneapolis plan has been closed to new employees since 1978; since then, new employees hired by the city of Minneapolis and six other municipal governments have been participants in PERA.

The Minneapolis plan will no longer exist as of Jan. 1, Ms. Most Vanek said.

Under a pension bailout approved by the Minnesota Legislature in 2010, contributions from the city and the state were required to bring the Minneapolis pension fund to 80% funding before it could be merged into the state plan. It reached that mark in late 2014.

The pension plan was 56% funded in 2009.

The Minneapolis pension fund has received annual state contributions of $24 million since 2010, Ms. Vanek said. The annual contribution of the city of Minneapolis, as well as the six other municipal governments with retirees in MERF, totaled about $27 million.

A new contribution payment will be established after Jan. 1, Ms. Vanek said. What part of the new contribution will be paid by the state and municipalities will be negotiated and then must be enacted through state legislation, she said.

The Minneapolis Employees Retirement Fund is approximately $869 million in size; MPERA, on the other hand, is a $22 billion fund.

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Texas Pension Official: Liabilities Could Hurt State Credit Rating Sooner Than Later

Texas budget analysts and pension officials are attempting to draw lawmakers’ attention to the unfunded liabilities of the Employee Retirement System of Texas. The analysts and the director of the pension system say the liabilities, if left unaddressed, could lead to a credit downgrade for the state.

From the Austin American-Statesman:

At a legislative hearing this month, outgoing Employee Retirement System Executive Director Ann Bishop piqued lawmakers’ interest when she said the plan’s current unfunded balance of $7.5 billion could at some point affect the state’s good credit rating if the Legislature doesn’t devise a plan to pay it off. The 2016 onset of new accounting rules will double that risk, she noted. The state only has 77 cents for every dollar needed to pay future benefits, according to the retirement system. If not addressed during next year’s legislative session, it is projected to grow to nearly $10 billion by 2018.

The agency again has asked the state for additional funding to make the plan actuarially sound – so that contributions and investment returns cover expenses and payouts – which it has not been since 2003. That would require an additional $350 million every two years.

Absent that, Bishop told members of the Senate State Affairs Committee that the solution is some combination of more benefit cuts or increased contributions from both the state and employees. Lawmakers in 2009 and 2013 increased state and employee contributions and cut benefits for newly hired workers.

While that “has done a lot to help close the gap,” Bishop said “it isn’t enough.”

“It will have to be fixed. And it’s just going to get worse before it gets better,” she told the committee, noting the plan will run out of money to pay for promised pension benefits by the 2050s if nothing changes.

That “sounds like a long time from now,” she continued, but “when you’re talking about attracting people into the workforce and you’re telling them they’re going to pay into a fund for 30 years and not have it in their retirement, that’s not much of a benefit.”

She also warned that further diminishing the plan could inspire a lawsuit or – even worse – spark a mass retirement exodus as more than a third of the state’s workforce is either already eligible to retire or will become so in the next five years. In 2013, retirees received an average annuity of $18,946 from the plan.

ERS Texas manages $25.6 billion in assets.

Incoming Massachusetts Governor to Push for Transparency at MBTA Fund

Massachusetts Governor-elect Charlie Baker says he will push for more transparency and openness from the MBTA retirement fund.

Baker’s statements come days after it was reported by the Boston Globe that the pension fund posted its annual report a full year late; the fund also waited a year to disclose troubles at a hedge fund that held pension money. The hedge fund is now shutting down in the wake of civil fraud charges brought against its executives.

From the Boston Globe:

The incoming Baker administration will press for greater openness at the MBTA retirement fund and encourage it to operate more like other pensions for public workers, a spokesman for Governor-elect Charlie Baker said Monday.

“The governor-elect wants to protect the pensions of hard-working MBTA employees and feels greater transparency and disclosure could help the pension board make better investment decisions,’’ the spokesman, Tim Buckley, said in a statement. Given the significant investment of taxpayer dollars in the MBTA, he said, Baker “feels it is appropriate to explore ways to align the MBTA pension board’s investment practices with those of other public pension boards.”

[…]

Baker’s spokesman declined to offer specifics on how he might tackle the issue. The pension fund is organized as a trust and in 1993 won a Supreme Judicial Court ruling that it does not have to make records public, hold open meetings, or follow the ethics rules of public agencies.

[…]

A governor’s main leverage with the MBTA pension fund is indirect. Governors get to appoint people to the seven-member Department of Transportation board, which in turn sends three “management” appointees to the six-member T retirement board.

Read more Pension360 coverage of transparency issues at the MBTA fund here.

Photo by Marissa Babin via Flickr CC License

Unions Approve Omaha Pension Reforms

A third union has approved a contract with the city of Omaha, Nebraska that features major pension changes.

Among the changes: new employees will be shifted into a cash balance plan and the full retirement age will be raised. In exchange, Omaha will increase its payments into the city’s pension fund and employees will receive a raise.

From NBC Omaha:

Monday, Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert’s office announced a third and final civilian union in contract negotiations has approved an offer which includes changing to a cash balance pension plan for new employees.

A news release from the office says the offer “solves the underfunded pension liability and achieves unprecedented pension reform.”

CMPTEC members were the last union group to accept an offer changing from defined benefits to a cash balance plan. The change only impacts new employees hired after January 1st.

The unions include CMPTEC, Local 251 and the Functional Employees Group. A fourth group, AEC, is not represented by a bargaining unit, but it will receive the same benefits.

Each group’s agreement allows current employees to remain in the existing pension plan with reduced benefits and an extension to the number of years required to achieve normal retirement.

In return, the City agreed to increase contributions to the pension fund by 7% over the five-year agreement, give employees a 9% raise over the five-year period, and a 1% one-time “lump sum supplement” for 2013 when wage freezes were enacted.

“I am grateful to the membership, the union negotiators and our negotiating team led by Mark McQueen and Steve Kerrigan for agreements that are good for our employees and the taxpayers,” said Mayor Jean Stothert.

The Personnel Board has already approved the Local 251 agreement. In January, they will meet to approve the other two. The City Council must also approve the contracts.

The contracts run through 2017.

Canada Pensions Team With Spanish Bank on Energy Investment

Two Canadian pension funds – the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board – have teamed up with Spanish bank Banco Santandar S.A. to manage a $2 billion portfolio of renewable energy assets.

From the Financial Post:

Santandar, which already owned the portfolio, will transfer it to a new company owned equally by the bank, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments).

The portfolio includes wind, solar and water infrastructure assets that are either operating or in development in seven countries.

The three partners said in a statement Monday they intend to make significant investments in the new company over the next five years.

“This investment fits well with our strategy of deploying capital in sizeable opportunities that offer long term revenues and growth potential along with solid partners,” said Bruno Guilmette, senior vice-president of infrastructure investments at PSP Investments.

Teachers’ investment was led by its infrastructure group, which manages a global portfolio of $11.7-billion of direct infrastructure investments, including water and wastewater, electricity distribution, gas distribution, airports, power generation, high-speed rail and port facilities.

Pending regulatory approval, the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2015.

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan manages $138.9 billion in assets. The Public Sector Pension Investment Board manages $94 billion in assets.

Several Jacksonville Council Members Support Investigation into Pension System

Earlier this month, Florida state Rep. Janet Adkins sent a letter to Gov. Rick Scott calling for an investigation into the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund – specifically, the “questionable practices and possible mismanagement” of its DROP fund.

Now, several members of the Jacksonville City Council say would support such an investigation and are planning on writing to Gov. Scott as well.

From the Florida Times-Union:

Councilman Bill Gulliford said he sent Scott a letter last week asking him to take a “hard look” into the pension fund’s practices. Councilman Bill Bishop and Council President Clay Yarborough said they plan to send letters to Scott, as well.

[…]

In October, the Times-Union reported how the pension fund ignored findings by the City Council Auditor’s Office and city lawyers that the pension fund incorrectly applied regulations for participation in DROP. The Times-Union found that three individuals who entered DROP will collectively receive about $1.8 million more than they would under strict interpretation of the code.

“You have members of the public and taxpayers asking leaders how they can get away with this,” Yarborough said. “I don’t have a good answer for them.”

When asked Monday what they thought of Adkin’s call for a state investigation, many council members said they supported the idea.

“I think it’s a worthwhile exercise,” said Councilman John Crescimbeni. “I think the taxpayers have a right to know whether there’s any waste or fraud.”

Other council members say they don’t support an investigation, or remained non-committal:

Councilman Jim Love said a state investigation may be “overkill”, while Councilman Richard Clark said it would serve as a distraction to the city’s attempt at pension reform.

“It puts a bad taste in my mouth,” Clark said. “I don’t know what it solves by accusing them of something. We need to solve our pension issues. We need to solve them in a fashion that’s constructive.”

Councilwoman Denise Lee said she didn’t “really have an opinion on it,” and Councilman Robin Lumb said he had no comment.

Mayor Alvin Brown’s office didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.

The Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund is currently deciding whether to approve the city’s pension reform measure, which was passed by the City Council earlier this month.

Photo by pshab via Flickr CC License

CalPERS Hires Lobbying Firms to Represent Interests Before Congress

CalPERS announced Monday it has hired two lobbying firms to represent its retirement policy and market regulation interests in front of the U.S. Congress and the Executive Branch.

From a CalPERS press release:

The joint venture between Lussier Group/Williams and Jensen was selected as [CalPERS’] federal representative for retirement policy issues, and K&L Gates was selected as its federal representative for investment and financial market regulation issues.

A third firm, a joint venture of Avenue Solutions/Jennings Policy Strategies was selected in November to represent CalPERS’ health care-related interests.

“Having specialized representatives in these areas will enable us to play a stronger role in retirement and investment national policy development that will continue to enhance the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of our programs,” said Board President Rob Feckner. “We look forward to working with both of these firms and are eager to have their skill and expertise put to work for us.”

Earlier this year, the CalPERS Board directed staff to begin the search for specialized representatives in the policy areas of health care, retirement, and investments. Three firms were selected as finalists for the retirement policy representative, while two firms were selected as finalists for the investment policy representative. After a thorough review and interview process, Lussier Group/Williams and Jensen, and K&L Gates were selected by the Board this week. The selections are contingent upon satisfactory negotiations of terms and conditions in order for the contracts to be awarded.

“Engaging nationally on retirement security issues is a priority for CalPERS and an important part of our commitment to our members,” said Anne Stausboll, CalPERS Chief Executive Officer. “Having three separate and focused representatives broadens our reach and ability to influence outcomes.”

CalPERS is the largest public pension fund in the United States with assets of about $300 billion.

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Jacksonville Pension Reform Bill, Approved by Council, Could Still Stall

The Jacksonville City Council approved the city’s long-debated reform plan last month, which increase future employees contributions to the city’s Police and Fire Pension Fund, as well as boost the city’s payments by $40 million annually.

But now the proposal is awaiting approval from the Police and Fire Pension Fund, and one big question remains: how will the city pay for its higher payments? From News4Jax.com:

The Police and Fire Pension Fund met Monday to look at the city’s proposal to deal with the $1.7 billion pension deficit and the members are stuck on a major issue: how the city will pay for it.

The Jacksonville City Council approved a plan without designating a funding source and gave the pension board a little more than a month to approve or reject it.

The pension board is debating several issues again, including whether new members should carry the brunt of reform.

Under the plan approved by the council, future police and firefighters would undergo significant changes in the way their retirement is funded. They would pay more and the city would pay more into the retirement fund to bring it in line.

The pension board previously agreed to those changes in the plan, but now it might change its stance.

The board will reportedly meet again on Jan. 5 to vote on the reform measure.

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