Employees' Retirement Fund of the City of Dallas Reports Double Digit Returns

DALLAS, Jan. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Employees' Retirement Fund of the City of Dallas ("ERF") investment portfolio generated a double digit return of 17.51% (net of fees) for calendar year 2019.  The total assets under management increased to $3.65 billion from $3.3 billion in 2018. Dallas ERF has a funded ratio (actuarial assets/liabilities) of 80% which makes it the third highest ranked municipal fund in the state of Texas according to the Texas Pension Review Board. In the longer-term Dallas ERF has a 10-year return of 8.56% which exceeds its actuarial rate of return of 7.75%.  Since 1985, Dallas ERF investments has generated a return of 9.09%

The Dallas ERF Board consists of seven dedicated trustees with over 75 years of investment and benefit experience.  "I want to thank the Board trustees for their discipline, patience, and investment expertise as the markets continue to evolve," said Cheryl Alston, ERF's Executive Director. "As fiduciaries for more than 16,000 current and retired city employees, we must continue to focus on the long-term investment horizon."

"I would also like to take this opportunity to commend the ERF staff for their diligence and commitment to excellent service to employees and pensioners," said Alston. "The customer service rating from members in 2019 is 97.3% approval."

ERF Investments

Dallas ERF has a global, diversified conservative investment program. The best performing asset class in 2019 was Domestic Equity. Dallas ERF's Domestic Equity portfolio earned 29.06%.  Both Global Equity and International Equity had a return of 22.83% and 22.46%, respectively for 2019. Global Low Volatility Equity returned 21.54% exceeding the benchmark MSCI ACWI Minimum Volatility Index of 21.05%.   

The Fund's Real Estate investments generated 14.75% for the year. The Real Estate investments consist of publicly traded real estate called Real Estate Investment Trusts ("REITs") as of 12/31/2019 and national private core real estate funds as of 9/30/2019.   Public Real Assets consists of energy Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs). The MLPs earned 11.84% outperforming  the Alerian MLP benchmark of 6.56%.   The Private Equity returns always lag a quarter behind, so the last reported quarter is 9/30/2019. As of 9/30/2019, the investments in Private Equity returned 11.69%. 

Fixed Income is 30% of the ERF investment portfolio. Our investment in Global Fixed Income returned 9.02% and exceeded the Bloomberg Aggregate benchmark of 8.72% in 2019. Our High Yield investments posted a return of 14.14% and the Credit Opportunities posted a return of 11.45%.

SOURCE Employees’ Retirement Fund of the City of Dallas