The State Employees’ Retirement System no longer has any Russian bond holdings in its portfolio, according to an agency spokeswoman.
It sold all four Russian government bonds that had a collective value of around $9.6 million last year, said spokeswoman Pam Hile. The system has $38 billion in assets.
“Our staff has been carefully examining the entire portfolio and determined that the fund’s exposure to Russia-related investments amounts to a fraction of 1%,” Hile said. “The portfolio has no exposure to Belarus.”
SERS board is planning to discuss Russia-related investments, including its portfolio’s exposure and any actions it deems appropriate, at its regularly scheduled board meeting on Friday, Hile said.
Meanwhile, other state agencies are working to divest their investments in Russia and supporting countries in a show of support for Ukraine since the launch of Russian attacks last week.
The Public School Employees’ Retirement System, which reported it has under $300 million directly invested in Russian and Belarus holdings, plans an emergency meeting for Thursday afternoon in light of the crisis in Ukraine. The level of investment it has in those countries represents a fraction of 1% of its $72.5 billion in total assets.
Already, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity has divested all but $184,000 of the $2.9 million the commonwealth had invested in 31 Russian companies in a show of solidarity with Ukraine. An agency spokesman said those proceeds were distributed throughout Treasury’s indexed portfolio.
“We have sold our interest in 28 of the companies,” said Treasury spokeswoman Samantha Heckel. “The final three securities are American Depositary Receipts which have been halted from trading as part of the sanctions. As a result, we won’t be able to divest from those securities unless the trading halt is removed.”
In the meantime, Heckel said the sanctions the U.S. government has imposed against Russia prevent the Russian companies from accessing the $184,000.
Lawmakers from both chambers also are proposing legislation to require the divestiture of all commonwealth holdings connected to the Russian government and its supporters.
“The commonwealth’s public funds represent a substantial amount of investment power,” said House Majority Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre County, who is sponsoring a Russian divestiture bill. “We have a moral obligation to ensure that our public fund investments are not inadvertently supporting those who are engaging in an unprovoked invasion of their democratically elected neighbors.”
“We cannot, must not and should not ignore the atrocity of Russia’s unprovoked and illegal invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine,” said Sen. Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia, who is sponsoring his own proposal to divest from Russia. “We must send a message, not only with economic sanctions at the federal level but at every level of government.”
Other displays of support for Ukraine came from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board removed Russian-made alcohol from the state’s Fine Wine and Good Spirits stores shelves and Gov. Tom Wolf ordered the state Capitol to be bathed at night in blue and yellow lights in a show of solidarity for Ukraine at least through Friday.
Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy.