The State Investment Commission today unanimously voted to terminate its investment in seven hedge funds pursuant to the newly adopted 'Back to Basics' investment strategy, announced General Treasurer Seth Magaziner, who chairs the Commission.
With today's action, Rhode Island will redeem an estimated $585 million from hedge funds in the coming months. The state will fully redeem positions with Ascend Capital, Brevan Howard, Brigade Capital Management, Emerging Sovereign Group (formerly Carlyle Group), Partner Fund Management, Samlyn Capital, and Och-Ziff Capital Management.
The reduction in Rhode Island's hedge fund exposure comes following last month's adoption of 'Back to Basics', a plan to refocus Rhode Island's $7.7 billion retirement system on investments expected to provide growth, reduce volatility and strengthen retirement security.
While the 'Back to Basics' strategy will take time to fully implement, a majority of the hedge fund redemptions are expected to be complete by the end of the current fiscal year.
Thus far in the 2016 calendar year, the Rhode Island pension fund has returned 6.20%, beating its benchmark by 43 basis points.