Ohio Schools Employees’ Pension Fund posts -0.5% full-year return in challenging market environment

For the three and 10 years ended June 30, the pension fund posted an annualized net return of 9.1% and 9.1%, respectively, above its respective benchmarks of 7.4% and 8.1 %.

SERS had earned a net return of 26.8% for the year ended June 30, 2021.

The latest pension fund returns for the fiscal year reflect a challenging return environment for public equities and fixed income securities over the past year. For the year ended June 30, the Russell 3000 Index and Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index posted returns of -13.9% and -10.3%, respectively, in stark contrast to returns of 44. 2% and 4.6% for the year ended June 30, 2021.

Barbour said global equities and fixed income posted net returns of -15.9% and -10.7%, respectively, for the year ended June 30. The two asset classes made up about 54% of the fund’s total, against a combined target of 64%%, he said.

The pension fund benefited from the excellent performance of private equity and real assets, which generated net returns of 34.4% and 24.5%, respectively, for the year ended June 30.

Barbour said the combined allocation of these two asset classes represents about 32% of total pension fund assets.

Full asset allocation and benchmark information is not yet available, he said.