CalSTRS is going to treat its exposure to Russia as frozen assets and over time determine how the pension plan will get its money out of the country, he said.
The trustees of three of the five pension funds that make up the $274.4 billion New York City Retirement Systems voted to divest their Russian investments earlier this month.
The $104 billion New York City Teachers' Retirement System has about $90 million in Russian securities and voted March 7 to "prudently divest" from its Russian holdings "to ensure the long-term stability of our pension system," said a news release from the United Federation of Teachers union, which has three members on the board.
On March 2, trustees of the New York City Employees' Retirement System voted to divest $31.1 million in Russian securities out of the pension fund's total $88.2 billion in assets.
And on March 1, trustees of the New York City Police Pension Fund approved a divestiture resolution calling for the selling of $42.2 million in Russian securities out of the pension fund's $53.6 billion in assets.
New York state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced in a news release March 1 that he has directed staff to prohibit new investments in Russian companies. He has also asked staff to review current investments in the $279.9 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund to assess whether further restrictions or divestment are necessary. Mr. DiNapoli is sole trustee for the Albany-based pension fund.
The pension fund estimates it currently holds $111 million in public equity investments in Russian companies.
New York State Teachers' Retirement System, Albany, announced in a resolution March 4 it is in the process of divesting from current investments in Russia and has restricted all future investments in the country. The $152.4 billion pension system currently holds $125 million in Russian-related assets.
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read announced in a news release March 3 that he has directed staff to work with federal agencies and regulatory assets to cut the state's Russian-linked investments.
"Along with other state treasurers and institutional investors, we are working with U.S. Treasury to learn more about how best to proceed with removing these assets, consistent with our legal and fiduciary responsibilities," Mr. Read said.
Mr. Read's office oversees the Oregon Investment Council, which manages the $96.5 billion Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, Tigard, and other state trust funds.
The $72.5 billion Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System, Harrisburg, passed resolutions at an emergency board meeting March 3 to divest its current investments in Russia and Belarus as quickly as possible and to make no future investments in the two countries.
PennPSERS has about $270 million to $300 million invested in the two countries.
The pension fund had originally been set to discuss the matter at its regularly scheduled March 11 meeting, but board Chairman Christopher Santa Maria said in his opening statements at the meeting that he had been contacted by other board members who "questioned whether it was necessary or prudent to wait another week to address this issue, that the situation over in the Ukraine has only gotten worse each day, and that many state and local governments, along with private sector firms, have already begun to take action."
The $39 billion Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System's board at its meeting March 4 voted to divest the Harrisburg-based retirement system from Russia-related and Belarus-related assets.
As of March 3, PennSERS had $7 million invested in Russian-related assets.
The Rhode Island State Investment Commission, Providence, voted to divest state pension fund investments from Russia. The commission, which manages the investments of the $10.5 billion Rhode Island Public Employees' Retirement System, voted unanimously to pull its assets in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, said state Treasurer Seth Magaziner, who oversees the commission, in a news release March 2.
The news release said Russian-linked investments account for about 0.3% of total Rhode Island pension fund assets.
On March 3, the North Dakota State Investment Board, Bismarck, voted at a special meeting to divest its investments in Russian entities or securities, according to a news release from the office of Gov. Doug Burgum.
Russian investment exposure had already been reduced by one-third since Feb. 28. As of that day, the state had a total of $15.9 million in investments with Russia.
"We are all appalled at the humanitarian disaster that is happening for this needless war," said Scott Anderson, chief investment of the state's retirement and investment office, in the news release. "This situation is very fluid as managers are exiting positions, as prices are changing and as brokers-traders are halting transaction activity."
The North Dakota Retirement & Investment Office oversees the investment management of the assets of the state's $8.2 billion Legacy Trust Fund, $7.5 billion pension assets pool and $3.1 billion insurance trust.
Missouri Public School and Education Employee Retirement Systems, Jefferson City, will cease all future allocations to Russian-related investments and is assessing its current investments in the country, said a March 4 news release on its website.
Investment staff of the two pension funds, which have a combined $57.1 billion in assets, informed the board at a March 4 meeting that it has instructed external managers to halt the purchase of Russian securities and that it will "monitor liquidation opportunities" and comply with any and all federal sanction requirements, the posting said.
"As fiduciaries, our board, management team and staff will make any future decisions with the best interest of the members of the systems in mind," said Dearld Snider, executive director, in the news release.
The Missouri school systems held about $90.8 million in Russian securities as of Feb. 28, the news release said.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is asking the state's three largest asset owners to divest from certain Russian assets.
"The State of New Mexico has substantial investments that may be directly or indirectly aiding the Russian invasion. This is unacceptable," Ms. Grisham said in a March 4 letter to the asset owners. "Not one penny should go toward furthering (Vladimir) Putin's brutality."
She urged the $36.4 billion New Mexico State Investment Council, $17.8 billion New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association and $16.7 billion New Mexico Educational Retirement Board, all based in Santa Fe, to "take all lawful steps" to divest from any investments that "may benefit the Russian government and its supporters in its war against Ukraine."
David Archuleta, executive director, and Bob Jacksha, CIO of the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board, said in a joint letter to participants that the pension fund has a small amount of Russian securities, which ERB officials have been "actively selling." The plan's current exposure is about $3 million, amounting to 0.02% of total assets. Messrs. Archuleta and Jacksha said they plan to discuss strategies to further reduce the board's exposure to Russian securities.
Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System, Nashville, is already free of Russian-linked investments, according to a statement from state Treasurer David H. Lillard Jr., who oversees the pension fund.
The $66.1 billion pension fund is the beneficiary of the state Treasury Department's existing policy to screen out investments to countries such as China and Russia, Mr. Lillard said, because the department "believes in the rule of law and democracy and that those attributes make for sound investments."
Each year for more than a decade, the investment staff has utilized a screening methodology that evaluates each emerging markets country, Mr. Lillard said.
The staff uses the Global Democracy index, developed by The Economist magazine, in tandem with the Corruption Perceptions index, created by Transparency International. Countries that score poorly in a combination of the indexes are eliminated from investment consideration.
Connecticut state Treasurer Shawn T. Wooden has directed the $47 billion Connecticut Retirement Plans & Trust Funds to divest from the approximately $218 million it currently in holds Russian-owned equity and fixed-income.
Mr. Wooden, sole trustee of the Hartford-based pension fund, said in a news release March 1: "We cannot stand idly by as the humanitarian crisis unfolds and Russian markets crumble, and I cannot continue to invest these pension funds in a way that runs counter to the foreign policy and national interests of the United States."
U.S. sanctions also prompted Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to request officials with the $61 billion Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association, Denver, follow suit.
A Colorado pension fund spokesman confirmed in an email that Colorado PERA "is reviewing and preparing to implement the federal mandates within the required time specifications." As of Feb. 24, the pension fund had $8 million in Russian investments, including $7.2 million in Russian state-owned bank Sberbank.
Andy Palmer, CIO of the $69.3 billion Maryland State Retirement & Pension System, Baltimore, said in a memo Feb. 27 to board members and advisers that earlier in the month, the pension fund had $197 million in Russian holdings, including $90 million in six Russian companies directly impacted by U.S. sanctions. By the close of business Feb. 24, Maryland's total Russian position was worth $96 million, he said.
Mr. Palmer said in the memo that investment staff are in contact with managers holding the largest positions "to understand how they plan on proceeding."
"The small weight of Russia in the portfolio is a testament to the broad diversification strategy the board has adopted. We tend to focus on these instances of heightened risk in one portion of the portfolio but miss the positive impact other exposures bring," Mr. Palmer said.
San Francisco City & County Employees' Retirement System and the Chicago Public School Teachers' Pension & Retirement Fund's boards approved divesting from Russian investments at their respective board meetings March 10.
The San Francisco board voted to halt all new Russian investments by the $35.3 billion pension fund and take steps to divest from existing Russian securities that are linked to harmful activities as defined by the U.S. government, a news release said.
SFERS' most recent estimates show it had a total of about $37.5 million invested in Russian company equity and debt, sovereign debt and currency, or about 0.11% of the pension fund's total assets. The board of the $13.1 billion Chicago teachers fund voted to divest from its $5 million in holdings in Russian-linked securities and passed a resolution to support the Ukrainian people.
