Public MI pensions seek injunction to stop fire sale

Two public Michigan pension funds are asking a Delaware court to issue a TRO in order to block the sale of 95 million newly issued Bear Stearns shares to JPMorgan. The filing refers to the $10-a-share sweetened offer for Bear Stearns from JPMorgan "grossly inadequate."

Here in Arkansas, there have been no reports that any public pensions will be affected by this particular transaction. A report from Arkansas Teacher Retirement System CEO Paul Doane states that while that system has been impacted by weakness in the equity markets and the portfolio has pulled back from the nearly $12 billion level in October, the system has accumulated a significant amount of reserve gains that will serve retired teachers well in the event this becomes a prolonged market downturn. The Arkansas Teacher Retirement System has 27,453 retired members for a total salary of $524,798,073. There are 84,430 total active members with a combined salary of $2,190,143,279. The vast majority of retirees remain here in Arkansas after employment. Here are a couple of helpful maps from the ATRS showing the membership by county and congressional district (albeit an older congressional map).