First KY Pension Hearing Scheduled for Thursday

AG Beshear vows to ‘argue as hard as I can every single hearing to have this bill thrown out.’

Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear’s quest to have a controversial pension bill thrown out continued Monday with a video update in which he announced a hearing date for the case: Thursday at 10 a.m. in Franklin Circuit Court.

After Beshear had cited several illegalities within the initial bill and its updates, lawmakers slipped the reform into a sewage bill in one of the last days of the 2018 regular session. Once signed, the bill was sent to Gov. Matt Bevin’s desk, and was subsequently signed by Bevin.  Upon learning of this move, Beshear immediately filed a 49-page lawsuit.

In addition to issues he found within the measure, Beshear questioned the way the bill was passed as it was not reviewed by legislators nor given an analysis on whether it would work.

“That law showed the worst of the worst of government. It turned an 11-page sewage bill into a 291-page pension bill, then they rammed it through in a single day,” Beshear said in the video, which he promises is the first of many updates while the case proceeds.

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Beshear estimated that there will soon be a schedule made for the case, hopefully allowing for a judge to grant the injunction, effectively stopping the heavily criticized reform.

“I’m going to argue as hard as I can every single hearing to have this bill thrown out,” he said.

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Malaysia’s Largest Pension Fund to Sell Columbia Asia Stake

Fund targets 4% global assets increase.

The Malaysian Employees Provident Fund, the country’s largest pension fund, plans to drop a large investment with a healthcare provider, according to the $209 billion fund’s 2017 annual report.

According to the report, investments in the hospital group are being reclassified as assets held for sale. The pension fund holds a 29.72% stake in Columbia Asia.

The fund’s Investment Panel approved the sale in November, the annual report said. The sale is expected to be completed by April 2018.

Terms of the deal and information on who the buyers are were not disclosed.

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The large-scale pension plan will also be divesting 38 units of CIMB investment properties as well as a property at Petra Jaya, Sarawalk, later this year. Deal Street Asia reports that the fund holds a total of $152.6 million invested in these projects.

Despite the divestment plans, the Malaysian fund will add to its global investments. The fund’s global assets, while consisting of roughly one-third of total assets, was more than 40% of its 2017 gross investment income.

In the annual report, CEO Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said that the global portfolio’s target size will be raised to 32% of total assets as part of its “ongoing efforts to ensure appropriate diversification and risk management of our total portfolio.”

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