OPERS’ Economic Impact on Ohio
You probably know by now that since 1935, OPERS has provided retirement security and peace of mind to millions of Ohio’s retired public workers and their families. However, did you know that OPERS is also a catalyst to Ohio’s business economy? In 2015, OPERS paid more than $7.2 billion in pension benefits and costs for health care coverage to more than 205,000 retired Ohioans and their beneficiaries. More than 90 percent of our retirees live in Ohio, spending the vast majority of that money on goods and services in-state, thereby providing a stable foundation for the Ohio economy.
OPERS’ economic footprint reaches well beyond individuals’ retirement benefits and health care payments. As an institutional investor, OPERS also helps Ohio companies bolster the economy. Below are lists of the 10 largest direct and indirect investments in the state of Ohio. Direct investments are measured as the market value of our investment in the securities of firms headquartered in Ohio.
Indirect investments are measured as the market value of our investment in the securities of 10 companies with the largest employment presence in the state, totaling approximately $1 billion. Employment presence is measured by the number of persons employed at a business located in Ohio, as defined by the Office of Strategic Research, Ohio Department of Development. Firms with the largest employment presence in Ohio employed approximately 200,000 people in Ohio.
| Top 10 Direct Investments in Ohio-based companies (fair value of OPERS investment as of Dec. 31, 2015) |
||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Procter & Gamble Co. | $157,144,052 |
| 2 | Kroger Co. | $59,090,731 |
| 3 | Welltower Inc. | $35,109,467 |
| 4 | L Brands, Inc. | $30,333,450 |
| 5 | Cardinal Health, Inc. | $22,952,656 |
| 6 | American Electric Power Co., Inc. | $21,240,231 |
| 7 | Marathon Petroleum Corporation | $20,519,153 |
| 8 | KeyCorp | $20,240,108 |
| 9 | Cintas Corporation | $18,571,651 |
| 10 | J.M. Smucker Company | $14,912,176 |
| TOTAL: | $400,113,675 | |
| The 10 largest indirect investments in companies that OPERS holds, with largest employment presence in Ohio, by headcount (fair value of OPERS investment as of Dec. 31, 2015 ) |
||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. | $68,392,287 |
| 2 | Kroger Co. | $59,090,731 |
| 3 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | $181,219,599 |
| 4 | General Electric Company | $218,792,242 |
| 5 | Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | $41,624,862 |
| 6 | United Parcel Service, Inc. | $50,779,031 |
| 7 | Bob Evans Farms, LLC | $168,026 |
| 8 | Procter & Gamble Co. | $157,144,052 |
| 9 | Lowe’s Companies, Inc. | $54,580,447 |
| 10 | Home Depot, Inc. | $141,306,480 |
| TOTAL: | $973,097,757 | |
In addition to the direct and indirect investments detailed above, OPERS has committed over $2.7 billion to Ohio investments or Ohio-based managers since 2010 for:
- Real estate rescue capital or lending
- Small company private equity investments
- Minority-owned public equity managers; as well as managers of publicly-traded equities, fixed income and Global Tactical Asset Allocation (a top-down investment strategy that attempts to exploit short-term miss-pricings among a global set of assets.)
OPERS has also conducted millions of dollars of business with Ohio-qualified entities, including custodian banks and brokers.
As with all prudent investing, OPERS investments in Ohio and with Ohio-qualified managers have at least the same risk/reward profile as competing investments available elsewhere.