RICHMOND, Va., Sept. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Virginia Retirement System (VRS) experienced a -21.1 percent return on its investment portfolio for fiscal year 2009, ending the year with $42.9 billion in assets. The three-year annualized return was -3.2 percent and the five-year annualized return was 2.7 percent. These returns compare to the intermediate term policy benchmark returns of -20.1 percent, -3.6 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively for the last one-, three- and five-year periods.

"Fiscal year 2009 was a difficult year for the economy and the financial markets. As a long-term investor, VRS maintains significant exposure to equity, credit and real estate investments, and all suffered significant losses in market value last year. While the economic outlook remains challenging, we believe the portfolio remains well-positioned to produce attractive returns over intermediate and longer term horizons," said Chief Investment Officer Charles W. Grant.

The fund's fixed income portfolio produced a 4.6 percent return, while the public equity program produced a -28.0 percent return. The real estate return was -28.3 percent. The fund's private equity program experienced a -21.8 percent return and the credit strategies program had a -7.7 percent return.

The portfolio included $18.0 billion in public equity, $10.9 billion in fixed income, $6.1 billion in credit strategies, $3.7 billion in real estate and $3.6 billion in private equity, as of June 30, 2009.

"The VRS Board of Trustees remains committed to a long-term investment policy which is designed to generate reasonable returns with an acceptable level of risk. The board has provided the investment staff with a clear and flexible investment policy, and we are confident that VRS will be able to take advantage of attractive investment opportunities resulting from this challenging period," said VRS Board Chairman A. Marshall Acuff Jr.

VRS serves approximately 600,000 active members, retirees and beneficiaries. The active employees include about 147,000 teachers, 105,000 local government employees and about 94,000 state employees. In addition, VRS provides benefits to over 136,000 retirees and beneficiaries. The retirement system ranks as the nation's 24th largest public or private pension fund.

SOURCE Virginia Retirement System