December 6, 2024 (Des Moines, IA) - At today’s quarterly meeting of its Investment Board, the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System (IPERS) announced that its funded ratio reached 90.75% at the conclusion of FY2024, an increase from FY2023 when the ratio was 89.70%. This is the highest funded ratio IPERS has achieved since FY2002 when the ratio was 92.6%.
IPERS’ investment program earned a 9.07% return in FY2024, exceeding its 7.00% assumption. This better-than-expected performance created an actuarial gain of $245 million. The actuarial value of the IPERS Trust Fund equaled $42.927 billion in FY2024, up from $42.013 billion in FY2023. IPERS’ FY2024 actuarial valuation report is available at www.ipers.org.
“Because of superior management of its investment portfolio and sufficient contributions from members, IPERS is growing its funded ratio and shrinking its unfunded liability more quickly than anticipated,” IPERS CEO Greg Samorajski said. “Credit is due to the Iowa Legislature that approved pension reforms in 2010 and the IPERS Investment Board that provides excellent guidance to the staff who implement IPERS’ investment strategies. A collective commitment to reach full funding continues to show impressive results.”
Additional meeting highlights:
IPERS staff outlined plans to commit up to $2.35 billion to private market investments in CY2025, including up to $650 million in private credit, up to $700 million in private equity and up to $1 billion in private real assets. IPERS’ allocations to private equity, private credit and private real assets equal 17.4%, 6.0% and 6.7%, respectively. Long term, IPERS is targeting allocations of 17.0%, 8.0% and 9.5% to the same portfolios.
The Board approved hiring five investment firms/strategies for the Absolute Return search, subject to final due diligence and successful contract negotiations. Allocations to each firm are currently undetermined. The firms were selected from an RFP IPERS issued in January 2024.
| Firm Name | Strategy Name |
|---|---|
| AQR Capital Management | AQR Helix Strategy |
| Brevan Howard | Brevan Howard Alpha Strategies Master Fund |
| Bracebridge Capital | Bracebridge Absolute Return Composite |
| Blackstone | Blackstone Strategic Opportunity Fund |
| Davidson Kempner Capital Management | Navigator Fund |
Complete materials from the meeting are available on the IPERS Investment Board Meeting Information page.
The Iowa Legislature created IPERS in 1953 to provide a dependable and economical retirement plan for Iowa's public employees. IPERS is the state’s largest public retirement system, serving nearly 400,000 current and former public employees.