CalSTRS Agrees to VC Data Release

December 6, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Under pressure from a California newspaper, the California State Teachers' Retirement Fund (CalSTRS) has decided to release the performance results of the venture capital and other private funds in which it invests.

CalSTRS sent e-mail notifications to the partnerships in which it has invested that it has decided to release their return data.

It added that it is aware that many of the funds had confidentiality clauses in their partnership agreements with CalSTRS, but did not say whether those clauses would prohibit it from releasing the information, according to a San Jose Mercury News story.

CalSTRS gave the funds until this week to provide written notification of why they think such clauses would prevent CalSTRS from releasing the information. CalSTRS said it would then “discuss” each funds’ concerns before release, the Mercury News story said.

The move to release the data, which came in response to a Mercury News information request, is significant because the pension’s $3.8 billion in assets invested in private equity funds have been performing poorly over the past two years, the Mercury News story said.

CalSTRS is the state’s second-largest public pension fund.

The Mercury News also sued the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) the state’s largest pension fund, in October, seeking similar information. So far CalPERS has resisted.

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