Business

Rhode Island teachers exit Loeb fund

Rhode Island state employees are pulling their money out of Dan Loeb’s Third Point hedge fund.

The move is the latest salvo in a simmering feud between Loeb, a handful of other hedge fund titans and Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers.

Loeb and other hedgies have criticized the AFT and public-sector pensions, and have made sizable donations to groups that back charter schools, which operate outside the teachers union’s circle of influence.

In reaction to that stance, Weingarten put together last April a “watch list” of money managers — a list that included Loeb, David Tepper and Paul Singer — who should not receive teacher pension money.

Rhode Island’s General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, a Democrat who chairs the investment commission that made the decision to exit Third Point, has been pulled into the battle.

Raimondo is a candidate for governor and was honored by the conservative think tank, the Manhattan Institute, for overhauling Rhode Island’s pension system, and turning part of it into a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan. Loeb is a trustee of the Manhattan Institute.

Unionized state workers and retirees charge that Raimondo is relying on an investment strategy that is too risky and too expensive. At the end of 2013, Third Point had a 49 percent return. But the commission believed the fund was becoming too risky and wanted to pull out, according to a report.

The news was first reported by the Providence Journal.

“Third Point is pleased that Rhode Island’s pensioners earned 49 percent, net of fees, over the two years they invested with us,” a Third Point spokeswoman said in a statement. “Third Point’s investors have benefited greatly from our prudent investment approach across multiple market cycles, earning a net annualized rate of return of 21.3 percent since 1995.”