California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers), the Sacramento-based pension fund, lost 7.2% of its assets under management due to falls in the value of a number of asset classes including private equity.

Calpers, which has $156bn (€ 171bn) in assets as of the year ending June 30, 2001, posted an 11% loss in private equity investments. Private equity represents 5% of the fund's asset allocation. According to data released by Venture Economics, private equity investments lost -11.2% in the first nine months of the 2000-2001 fiscal year.