CalPERS Says Its Fund Now Tops $200 Billion

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the biggest U.S. pension fund, said Monday it topped $200 billion for the first time, helped by gains in foreign stocks, buyout funds and real estate investments.

CalPERS has added $44 billion since 2001, when it suffered its worst performance in nearly two decades amid slumping U.S. stocks. The fund has posted 10% or more in each of the last two years as stocks rebounded and the pension had gains in real estate and private equity.

“It took 64 years to break $100 billion, but only nine years to double those assets,” Rob Feckner, president of the pension fund’s board, said in a statement.

The Sacramento-based fund oversees benefits for more than 1.4 million state and local government employees.

CalPERS earned 12.7% in the year ended June 30, with 68% of its investments in stocks, 26% in bonds and 6% in real estate. That followed a 16.7% return the previous fiscal year, its biggest gain since 20% in 1997.

Starting in 1999, CalPERS started to suffer lower returns, culminating with a 7.2% loss in 2001 and a 5.9% loss in 2002, dropping its total value to $143 billion by the end of June that year.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had proposed converting CalPERS and its sister fund, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, into 401(k)-type plans. He scrapped that proposal in April amid union protests and after he learned it was written in such a way that it would have eliminated death benefits for firefighters and police officers.

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System has $132 billion under management.