NCPERS News Clips

March 6, 2012

News Clips for March 6th, 2012

• Canada's public pension funds are changing the deal-making landscape
  They own assets all over the world, including property in Manhattan, utilities in Chile, international airports and the high-speed railway connecting London to the Channel tunnel. They have taken part in six of the top 100 leveraged buy-outs in history. They have won the attention both of Wall Street firms, which consider them rivals, and institutional investors, which aspire to be like them.
• DiNapoli: new pension tier offers 'minimal' savings
  In case you missed it: Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, in a sit-down interview with the Empire on Wednesday, laid on his case against the push for a new pension tier.
• GAO: Most public pension plans have enough assets to last at least 10 years
  Most state and local public retirement systems “currently have assets sufficient to cover their benefit commitments for a decade or more,” despite suffering significant investment losses from the recent economic downturn, according to a Government Accountability Office report released March 2.
• New GAO Report Validates Financial Health and Sustainability of Public Pensions
  “NCPERS is gratified – but hardly surprised – that the most comprehensive government study of public pension plans to date finds that the vast majority of plans are adequately funded to meet their current obligations and have adopted systemic and operational reforms to ensure their long-term sustainability.
• More thanks, less blame
  Public employees, particularly those who work in state government, can be excused for feeling a bit under siege lately.
• U.S. Pension Assets Gained 16.4% in '11: Wilshire
  U.S. public pension funds rose 16 percent in the year ended June 30, narrowing the gap between their assets and liabilities to the lowest level since 2008, according to a report by Wilshire Associates Inc.
•  Judge to issue ruling Tuesday on requirement for Fla. public employee retirement contributions
  A judge plans to rule Tuesday on the legality of a new state law requiring public employees to contribute 3 percent of their pay to the Florida Retirement System.