State pension fund lost 2.8% in May

AROUND THE REGION

June 08, 2011|By Beth Healy, Globe Staff

The state pension fund lost 2.8 percent of its value in May as the stock market fell, lopping off more than $1 billion in gains, according to preliminary figures released at a state pension board meeting yesterday.

The losses trimmed the fund’s gains so far in 2011 to 4.3 percent, according to officials at the meeting. But for the fiscal year through April, the state pension fund gained nearly 24 percent. The fund now has about $50 billion in assets, having jumped as high as $51.2 billion at the end of April, fueled by private equity and global stocks and bonds.

In other business, the pension board approved $500 million in private equity investments and voted to create a compensation committee, to set pay policy for the staff.

Karen Gershman, the fund’s operating and financial chief — she was in the running for the executive director’s role last summer but did not get the job — left the state pension fund in April to work for a health care consultancy.