via sacbee:
Nobody is happy about PG&E’s bankruptcy filing, but California’s two biggest public pension systems are positioned to absorb losses on the utility’s stock without major repercussions.
That’s because the pension funds’ multi-million dollar investments in PG&E are tiny fractions of the portfolios that CalPERS and CalSTRS control.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and parent company PG&E Corp. filed for bankruptcy Tuesday, citing more than $30 billion in potential exposure from northern California wildfires in 2017 and 2018. Earlier this month, S&P downgraded PG&E Corp.’s credit rating to junk status.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which manages about $350 billion in investments, owned about 1.8 million shares of PG&E Corp. at the end of November, according to the latest figures available from the fund. At the time, the shares were worth about $47 million. CalPERS also owned Pacific Gas and Electric Co. securities worth about $35 million, according to the fund.