VRS Feels Fallout from Wall Street Debacle
The Virginia Retirement System 's $54.3 billion investment portfolio includes holdings in AIG and Lehman Brothers , but they amount to less than one half of one percent of total assets.
The VRS, the pension for more than 600,000 teachers and state/local government workers, had invested $27.6 million in AIG, reports Emily C. Dooley with the Richmond Times-Dispatch . About $12.6 million in stock will be wiped out, while the verdict is out on how the U.S. government, which is effectively nationalizing the insurance giant, will treat bond holders.
The retirement system also holds about $125 million in Lehman brothers stocks and bonds. VRS officials were unclear on how those investments will fare in wake of the news that Britain's Barclay's Bank had signed a $1.75 billion deal to acquire Lehman's investment banking, equities and trading operations, its New York headquarters building and two data centers.
VRS holds 15,000 equities, said Robert P. Schultze . "If you name any stock you can think of, we probably have something in it."
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