Penn SERS Earns 5.2% During 1st Half of 2024, 1.3% in Q2

The Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System’s investment portfolio returned 1.34% net of fees for the second quarter of 2024, 5.2% for the first half of the year and 9.84% for the 12-month period that ended June 30.

As of June 30, the Pennsylvania SERS defined benefit plan has approximately $37.7 billion in assets, while its defined contribution plan has more than $242 million.

The top-performing asset class for the pension fund during the first half of the year was U.S. equities, which earned 12.92% during the period and approximately 3% for the second quarter. Emerging markets equities registered the second-highest first-half return at 8.59%, as well as the highest quarterly return at approximately 5%.

Legacy private credit gained 5.29% for the first half and 1.34% for the second quarter, followed by international developed equity, which returned 5.12% during the first half despite losing 0.29% during the second quarter.

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Penn SERS’ private equity assets earned 3.53% for the first half and 1.29% for Q2, while its cash holdings provided a first-half return of 2.69% and a quarterly return of 1.33%. Its inflation protection assets increased 0.54% for the half and produced a second-quarter return of 0.71%; the pension fund’s fixed-income investments earned a first-half return of 0.15% and quarterly gain of 0.33%.

Real estate holdings were the only asset class that did not see positive gains during the periods, declining 9.24% in the first half and 3.84% for the quarter.

Penn SERS also announced that it hired RVK Inc. as general investment consultant for its defined benefit pension, defined contribution and deferred compensation plans over a five-year term that will start on February 26, 2025. The board also approved a commitment of up to $75 million as a follow-on investment in private equity fund LLR Equity Partners VII.

Meanwhile, the board updated the defined benefit investment policy statement and removed the dedicated targets to U.S. large-cap and small-cap equities to “eliminate the small cap bias relative to its U.S. equity’s benchmark, the Russell 3000 Index.”