The Government Employees’ Retirement System’s investments gained value in February, overcoming slumping U.S. markets reacting to tariffs and talks of trade wars.
The total plan’s return was 1.3 percent for the month, GERS officials said, which included a new appraisal value for the Havensight Mall. In February, GERS CEO Angel E. Dawson, Jr. announced the mall was reappraised at $46.5 million, an increase of $5.5 million over the last appraisal in 2017.
The five-story, 126-room, 71,040-square-foot hotel being built nearby was 85 percent complete, said GERS Investment Officer Glenville Henderson, with finish work in the guest rooms underway. An electricity-generating turbine system was successfully tested and in use.
After the hotel opens this year, Dawson said, the mall’s value will rise to $58.7 million – an increase of $17.7 million. Administrative complexes on St. Croix and St. Thomas also increased in market value, he said, from $3.3 million and $8 million, respectively, in 2021 to $3.4 million and $10.4 million in 2024.
In Europe, GERS’ investments increased in value despite internal political tensions, the war in Ukraine, and “tense meetings between European leaders and the Trump administration,” Henderson said.
Total domestic equity, up 17.6 percent over the last 12 months, was down 2.3 percent in February, he said.
“Domestically, shares fell off economic data raising concern over the health of the U.S. consumer and worries over the potential impact of trade tariffs. Also, in February, President Trump threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on goods from the EU and planned tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods,” Henderson said.
This trend could continue since the tariffs were imposed in March, as well as new taxes on imported automobiles and auto parts, he said. There were also market concerns over the sustainability of earnings from U.S. tech stocks, especially those involving AI.
Asian market investments also performed well. The developing market portfolio was up 1.9 percent and emerging markets rose 0.7 percent, in part from a strong Chinese market, he said.
GERS reported an ending market value of $534.8 million, but Dawson said, it would have been approximately $625 million if the system was awarded the full rum cover over expected. Dawson said GERS was owed an additional $90 million due to the cover over being calculated by Congress at $10.50 per proof gallon of rum instead of $13.25 per proof gallon. Either way, GERS was up dramatically over a low-point valuation of under $400 million in 2022.
In Havensight, the Department of Justice was behind more than $74,000 in rent owed to GERS and more than $55,000 in electrical fees. The Division of Personnel owed GERS more than $24,000 in electrical arrearages.
GERS personnel said the divisions often fell behind but always paid in the end.
