What's all the hoopla surrounding the New Jersey Division of Investment's recent investment in battered Citigroup Inc.? Isn't that what pension funds do? After all, pension funds are large institutions -- the Garden State fund has $80 billion in assets -- meant to generate returns to pay retirees, so if a deal promises to generate strong returns, it stands to reason a pension fund might want to invest in it.
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Instead, the media Tuesday morning couldn't seem to get over the fact that New Jersey -- New Jersey! -- was mixing it up with sovereign wealth funds putting money into Citi, evidently forgetting that pensions have been investing in companies long before anyone uttered "sovereign wealth fund." In fact you could say: Hey, look at those sovereign wealth funds acting just like pension funds. - Matthew Wurtzel
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