Ticker: Pension fund notches its best year; ‘Superman’ building owners pledge back taxes

The Massachusetts public employee pension fund on Tuesday reported a net investment return of nearly 30% for the recently ended fiscal year, the best return in the fund’s 35-year history.

The Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board in a statement said the return resulted in a net investment gain of $22.1 billion for the fiscal year that ended in June, for a total of nearly $96 billion in assets under management.

The return outperformed benchmarks by about 9%.

Net outflows to pay pension benefits for the year were approximately $1.2 billion.

Private-equity portfolio led the way with a return of 70.5%, Michael Trotsky, executive director and chief investment officer, said in a statement.

‘Superman’ building owners pledge back taxes

The owners of Providence’s so-called Superman Building avoided a scheduled tax sale of the vacant landmark by agreeing to pay nearly $450,000 in back taxes to the city, a spokesperson for Mayor Jorge Elorza said Monday.

High Rock Westminster Street LLC contacted the city and promised to pay the taxes when word got out that the state’s tallest building was on a list of properties facing a possible change of ownership if someone else paid the back taxes, spokesperson Ben Smith told The Providence Journal.

High Rock had been in tax delinquency for a year, Smith said. In a tax sale, anyone can step forward and pay the outstanding taxes. If the property owner doesn’t repay that debt within a year, title to the property goes to the person who paid the taxes, Smith said.

A High Rock spokesperson blamed nonpayment on an “error.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3Cb1jU1