§8-22-22a Restrictions on investments; disclosure of fees and costs.
§8-22-22a. Restrictions on investments; disclosure of fees and costs.
(a) Moneys invested as permitted by section twenty-two of this article and not invested with the West Virginia Investment Management Board or the Board of Treasury Investments are subject to the following restrictions and conditions contained in this section:
(1) The board shall hold in nonreal estate equity investments no more than seventy-five percent of the assets managed by the board and no more than seventy-five percent of the assets of any individual participant plan.
(2) The board shall hold in real estate equity investments no more than twenty-five percent of the assets managed by the board and no more than twenty-five percent of the assets of any individual participant plan: Provided, That the investment be made only on the recommendation by a professional, third-party fiduciary investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, as amended, on the approval of the board or a committee designated by the board, and on the execution of the transaction by a third-party investment manager: Provided, however, That the board's ownership interest in any fund is less than forty percent of the fund's assets at the time of purchase: Provided further, That the combined investment of institutional investors, other public sector entities and educational institutions and their endowments and foundations in the fund is in an amount equal to or greater than fifty percent of the board's total investment in the fund at the time of acquisition. For the purposes of this subsection, "fund" means a real estate investment trust traded on a major exchange of the United States of America or a partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company or other entity holding or investing in related or unrelated real estate investments, at least three of which are unrelated and the largest of which is not greater than forty percent of the entity's holdings at the time of purchase.
(3) The board shall hold in international securities no more than thirty percent of the assets managed by the board and no more than thirty percent of the assets of any individual participant plan.
(4) The board may not at the time of purchase hold more than five percent of the assets managed by the board in the nonreal estate equity securities of any single company or association: Provided, That if a company or association has a market weighting of greater than five percent in the Standard & Poor's 500 index of companies, the board may hold securities of that nonreal estate equity equal to its market weighting.
(5) No security may be purchased by the board unless the type of security is on a list approved by the board. The board may modify the securities list at any time, and shall review the list annually.
(6) Notwithstanding the investment limitations set forth in this section, it is recognized that the assets managed by the board may temporarily exceed the investment limitations in this section due to market appreciation, depreciation and rebalancing limitations. Accordingly, the limitations on investments set forth in this section shall not be considered to have been violated if the board rebalances the assets it manages to comply with the limitations set forth in this section at least once every twelve months based on the latest available market information and any other reliable market data that the board considers advisable to take into consideration, except for those assets authorized by subdivision (2) of this subsection for which compliance with the percentage limitations shall be measured at such time as the investment is made.
(7) The board shall annually review, establish and modify, if necessary, the board's investment objectives and investment policy so as to provide for the financial security of the trust funds giving consideration to the following:
(A) Preservation of capital;
(B) Diversification;
(C) Risk tolerance;
(D) Rate of return;
(E) Stability;
(F) Turnover;
(G) Liquidity; and
(H) Reasonable cost of fees.
(8) The board is expressly prohibited from investing in any class, style or strategy of alternative investments including a private equity fund such as a venture capital, private real estate or buy-out fund; commodities fund; distressed debt fund; mezzanine debt fund; hedge fund; or fund consisting of any combination of private equity, distressed or mezzanine debt, hedge funds, private real estate, commodities and other types and categories of investment permitted under this article;
(b) The board of trustees of each fund shall obtain an independent performance evaluation of the funds at least annually and the evaluation shall consist of comparisons with other funds having similar investment objectives for performance results with appropriate market indices; and
(c) Each entity conducting business for each pension fund shall fully disclose all fees and costs of investing conducted on a quarterly basis to the trustees of the fund and to the oversight board. Entities conducting business in mutual funds for and on behalf of each pension fund shall timely file revised prospectus and normal quarterly and annual Securities and Exchange Commission reporting documents with the board of trustees of each pension fund.