Kansas Public Employees records 4.7% fiscal-year loss

Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, Topeka, posted a gross return of -4.7% for the fiscal year ended June 30.

The $24.3 billion pension fund's return exceeded the policy benchmark return of -8.5% for the period, according to a performance report posted on its website.

For the three, five and 10 years ended June 30, KPERS returned an annualized gross 7.1%, 7.4% and 8.5%, respectively, above the respective benchmarks of 5.4%, 6.1% and 7.6%.

The pension fund had returned a gross 26.3% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021.

Returns by asset class were not provided in the performance report.

For the most recent fiscal year, the pension fund's negative return reflects a challenging public market return environment during the past year. Of the 55 public pension plans tracked by Pensions & Investments as of Wednesday, the median return for the year ended June 30 was -5.2%.

As of June 30, KPERS' actual allocation was 22.3% domestic equities, 21.2% international equities, 12.7% real estate, 11.6% alternatives, 11% real return, 9.9% fixed income, 5.8% cash and 5.5% yield-driven strategies.