NY investing in Irish economy
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has announced that the state’s retirement fund will invest $30 million in northern Ireland.
The investment will be made through the fund’s newest private-equity program, called the Emerging Europe program. PCG International, a firm based in Washington, D.C., will help manage the new program, DiNapoli said in his announcement as many celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
“There are opportunities in northern Ireland, and we intend to take advantage of those opportunities,” DiNapoli said.
The state’s retirement fund plummeted last year, mirroring the plight of the stock markets. The fund is now valued at roughly $120 billion, an estimated 22 percent decline from its value a year ago.
The drop in asset values has no immediate impact on benefits to the fund’s 1 million members because pension contribution rates are set two years in advance.
DiNapoli has already announced that contribution rates that government entities pay in will drop again in 2010, meaning that 2011 is the first year that rates could increase as a result of the ongoing market turmoil.
And that could lead to higher taxes as localities try to come up with the necessary money for benefits.
A third of the fund’s portfolio is invested in domestically traded stocks, which have driven the decline in the fund’s value free credit score online. Some losses on investments will not be realized until the state sells shares.
DiNapoli said he became interested in investing in Ireland in May 2008 during a forum held by a key economic development agency in the nation. The investment should close in the coming weeks.
“In the face of this very difficult investment market, we have to pursue long-term investments that will position the fund for strong long-range returns,” DiNapoli said. “This investment positions the fund to partner in the opportunities northern Ireland’s future will bring, Even in the face of today’s challenging economic times, Northern Ireland is an emerging market with a young, highly skilled workforce, excellent transportation and commercial infrastructure.”
Martin McGuinness, the deputy first minister of Ireland, said the investment is a “massive vote of confidence” that represents “the ordinary people of New York taking a stake in the future of the ordinary people of the north of Ireland.”
Filed under: legal by Pascal