N.C. Department of State Treasurer expands in-house indexing fund to $4 billion On track to manage more than $13 billion in internal equities in 2018

(Raleigh, N.C.) – State Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA announced Thursday that $4 billion in passive indexing funds are now being managed in-house as a means of reducing fees paid to outside investment managers.

“As the keeper of the public purse, my first priority for the pension plan is to protect our investments on behalf of teachers, first responders and other public workers who are counting on it for their retirement," said Folwell. “Bringing additional assets in-house lets us cut the fees we pay to Wall Street while maintaining performance as measured against industry benchmarks."

Treasurer Folwell also extended his thanks to co-Chief Investment Officers Christopher Morris and Jeff Smith; Investment Director for Public Equity Rhonda M. Smith; trader and analyst Greg Taylor; and trader and senior analyst Casey High for their hard work in advancing the internal management capability.

The N.C. Department of State Treasurer (DST), which manages the $98 billion state pension plan, has significantly expanded assets under internal management since launching the in-house initiative in November 2017. Assets being managed internally now include:

• Approximately $1.25 billion transitioned from Piedmont Investment Advisors Russell Top 200 index strategy

• Approximately $2.25 billion transitioned from BlackRock's Russell 1000 index strategy

• Management of a Russell Mid Cap Value strategy previously managed by BlackRock valued at approximately $400 million in assets

DST is on track to expand its internal domestic passive assets by billions of dollars in 2018, with a goal of bringing all $13.5 billion of U.S. passive management assets in-house by the end of the year. North Carolina's internal domestic passive equity management now consists of the following:

• Russell Top 200 – approximately $2.9 billion in total assets under management

• Russell Mid Cap Core – approximately $670 million in total assets under management

• Russell Mid Cap Value – approximately $398 million in total assets under management

The state pension plan, known as the North Carolina Retirement Systems, is the tenth largest public pension fund in the U.S. It provides retirement benefits and savings to more than 900,000 members, including teachers, state employees, firefighters, police officers and other public workers. For more information, visit www.nctreasurer.com.