NY State Fund Shifts Asset Targets

June 7, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) –The New York State Common Retirement Fund has cut its target share of investments in domestic and international stocks and hedge funds and increased private equity holdings.

Spokesman Robert Whalen said the fund also added categories for gold and timberland, Bloomberg reported.

According to the news report, the fund’s target for domestic equities shrank to 30% of assets from 35%, while international stocks fell to 13% from 16%, and hedge funds dropped to 4%.

Meanwhile,  private-equity funds’ share went up to 10% from 8%. As much as 3% is allocated for assets such as gold. “Opportunistic alternatives” may get as much as 4%. Investment targets for bonds and real estate were unchanged at 30% and 6% respectively.

Changes in asset-allocation objectives are intended to create “the right mix to match up with the fund’s long-term obligations,” Whalen told Bloomberg. “To carve out room for the new asset categories, we had to reduce somewhere.”

About 75% of the domestic equity portfolio will continue to be indexed according to Whalen.

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