CRF | Pension360

New York Comptroller Candidates Spar Over Private Equity Pension Investments

In the race for New York State Comptroller, incumbent Thomas DiNapoli is guarding a comfortable 20-point lead in the polls.

But his challenger, political unknown Bob Antonacci, isn’t holstering his guns quite yet.

Both candidates over the weekend sparred about the place of private equity in New York’s pension portfolio.

Under DiNapoli, New York’s Common Retirement Fund (CRF) allocates 8 percent of assets to private equity. Antonacci thinks that’s far too much.

From the New York Post:

DiNapoli’s challenger in the state comptroller’s race warned that private-equity investments look good now, but can turn bad very quickly.

“Private-equity investments can be very risky,” says Republican Bob Antonacci.

He agrees that it is a good idea to diversify state retirement portfolios beyond stocks and bonds. But 8 percent in private equity is excessive, he says.

“I think the problem is that he (DiNapoli) is putting too much emphasis on risky investments,” Antonacci said.

He added that the comptroller is seeking out chancier investments because his goal is to obtain a 7.5 percent return a year. That, Antonacci adds, is an unrealistic expectation.

“We are taking chances on getting returns that aren’t going to be there in the long run,” Antonacci says.

DiNapoli’s office responded:

“The comptroller sees private equity as diversifying the investment portfolio and getting better investment returns,” says DiNapoli spokesman Matthew Sweeney.

[…]

The recent numbers show that using private equity reduces risk through portfolio diversification, DiNapoli’s spokesman said. That, he adds, reduces risk.

New York State and Local Retirement Systems earned 14.9 percent over the past decade on the private equity part of the investments, according to a new report from the Private Equity Growth Capital Council (PEGCC).

The State Comptroller oversees $181 billion in pension assets. Recent polls have DiNapoli leading Antonacci, 58 percent to 31 percent.

Photo by Awhill34 via Wikimedia Commons

NY Comptroller DiNapoli: Six Reasons the State Shouldn’t Switch to a 401(k) System

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is the sole trustee of New York’s $180 billion Common Retirement Fund (CRF).

His challenger, Robert Antonacci, has said he would shift New York’s pensioners into a 401(k)-type plan if elected.

But during an editorial board meeting Monday, DiNapoli laid out six reasons why he’d keep New York’s defined-benefit system in place. From Syracuse.com:

1. It benefits 1 million New York employees and their families, a significant portion of the state’s population, he said. The average pension paid retirees, other than firefighters and police, is $21,000 a year.

2. The money paid out to retirees stays in New York, benefiting the state’s economy. About 80 percent of the people who receive a pension remain in the state, DiNapoli said.

3. The state’s pension plan is 92 percent funded and that’s a good asset to have when New York goes out to borrow money, he said. The health of the state’s pension plan is one of the things financial agencies look at when they issue bond ratings. Those ratings in turn affect the ability of the state and local municipalities to borrow.

4. New York has responded to current economic conditions by curtailing pension benefits for newly hired state employees. Local governments that have had a turnover in employees saw a savings as a result, DiNapoli said.

5. Twice in the past two years the state has cut the rate local governments pay into the system, he said.

6. Switching to a defined contribution plan won’t change the state’s obligation to provide a pension to the 1 million people already in the system, DiNapoli said. Plus, it would create retirement insecurity for even more New Yorkers. “A 401(k) was never meant to be the substitute for a pension,” DiNapoli said.

DiNapoli is leading Antonacci in the polls by double digits.

[iframe src=”http://video-embed.syracuse.com/services/player/bcpid1949044326001?bctid=3849163701001&bckey=AQ~~,AAAAPLpuTok~,Mq6Bf5KTh4CNk04xgb0fhNsE4sqxZ6vz”]

Few Details On New York Pension’s Partnership With Goldman Sachs As Comptroller Remains Quiet

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, the sole trustee of the states $181 billion Common Retirement Fund (CRF), announced last month a partnership between the pension fund and Goldman Sachs.

CRF will give Goldman $2 billion to invest in global equities. But few other details have emerged about the partnership. That led one think tank, the Pioneer Institute, to push for more clarity. But the Comptroller’s office has remained mum on specifics. From Public Sector Inc:

The lack of transparency in portfolio management and the conspicuous absence of a board of trustees overseeing the investment process is troubling, if not perilous.

Matthew Sweeney, a spokesman for the comptroller’s office, answered some of a dozen questions about the GSAM deal. Here are a few of those he did not comment on, completely unedited:

– Which other investment management firms applied to the competitive bidding for the $2 billion allocation?

– What were the specific criteria on the basis of which GSAM was selected?

– Can you share the investment policy sheet that was publicized as part of the RfP for this portfolio segment? This would include targets like concentration risk and counterparty risk limits as well as a number of other parameters related to the asset classes included, long/short ratios, other risk metrics, geographies and other relevant characteristics of the desired portfolio.

– What are the performance targets in terms of risk and return for the performance-based compensation, if any?

– What are the benchmarks selected to evaluate the performance of this portfolio sleeve in the coming years?

Mr Sweeney did answer a question regarding the compensation structure in the contract – with the laconic: “Fees are disclosed on an annual basis.”

[…]

With so much pension money at stake, why didn’t Mr DiNapoli’s office publicize the selection process, a clear rationale for the investment and the performance objectives he has (or so one hopes) for Goldman? What value are Goldman’s undoubtedly well-compensated analysts and investment bankers supposed to add?

The so-called partnership “will initially focus on dynamic manager selection opportunities in global equities to enhance returns” and then provide “improved analytics and reporting on its portfolio and enhanced evaluation and due diligence on current and potential active managers.” In other words, the CRF added a potentially expensive actively managed distraction for its global investment team days before CalPERS announced ditching its $4 billion hedge-fund allocation precisely because it was too small to make a dent in overall return and too expensive in terms of time and money to manage.

The bottom line is that, because of their sheer size, most pension funds can do little but focus on efficient cost and risk management. An open and competitive bidding process is essential to keeping costs down. And a critical part of risk management is having a robust, transparent and accountable investment process, which the CRF appears to be patently lacking. One need not look far afield to see where this sort of conduct ultimately leads.

The Common Retirement Fund paid $575 million in management fees in fiscal year 2013-14. The fund manages $181 million in assets.

You can read more coverage of the Goldman Sachs deal here and here.

Delving Deeper Into New York Fund’s Partnership With Goldman Sachs

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced yesterday that New York’s Common Retirement Fund (CRF) plans to give $2 billion to Goldman Sachs for investing in global stocks.

The partnership is the first of its kind of the CRF. Aaron Elstein, who runs the In The Markets blog, weighed in on the partnership in a column on Wednesday:

“This innovative partnership gives the New York State Common Retirement Fund full access to world-class global equity investment opportunities and the nimbleness to take advantage of them on a timely basis,” DiNapoli said.

The innovative thing is that the pension fund hasn’t hired Goldman before. As for “access to world-class global equity investment opportunities,” it seems worth noting that mutual funds bearing the Goldman Sachs name have collectively returned 12.43% over the past five years, according to Morningstar, which is average for their category. In 2010 and 2011 the funds underperformed their category and in 2012 and 2013 outperformed. This year, their total return of 4.7% is exactly in line with the category. Maybe the global equity investment opportunities from Goldman aren’t really the ones to which you’d want special access. (A spokesman for the comptroller’s office later said Goldman can’t pitch in-house funds to the pension fund.)

Certainly the New York state pension fund will be offered investments that Goldman doesn’t make available to mutual fund customers. We know that because the press release said the pension fund and Goldman “will initially focus on dynamic manager selection opportunities in global equities to enhance returns in the Fund’s equity portfolio.” That doesn’t sound like such a bargain, either.

“Dynamic manager selection opportunities” is gibberish that in its tortured way means Goldman will introduce the pension fund to money managers who aim to outperform the market.

Elstein goes on to dissect the rest of yesterday’s press release from DiNapoli and also touches on the drawbacks of actively managing investments. Read the whole column here.