By David G.
Barry
Elon Musk’s
agreement to buy Twitter will not have the California Public Employees’
Retirement System (CalPERS) or the California State Teachers’ Retirement
System (CalSTRS) necessarily sending exuberant tweets.
Musk reached a deal Monday to buy the social network for $44 billion, or $54.20
a share.
According to its annual report of its investment holdings, CalPERS as of June
30 owned nearly 1.75 million shares, which under Musk’s deal would be $94.7
million. In its report, the $477 billion fund listed the book value of its
holdings at $66.7 million – so it would see a gain from the purchase. However,
those shares had a market value at that time of $120.2 million. CalPERS also
said it owned a portion of a Twitter corporate bond which is scheduled to
mature in December 2027. CalPERS said that as of June, it had a par value of
$10.5 million, a book value of $10.53 million and a market value of $11.1 million.
CalSTRS, meanwhile, owned nearly 1.4 million shares as of June 30 that at the
time had a market value of $95.8 million. Under Musk’s offer, the $320 billion
pension fund’s shares would be worth $75.4 million.
Another pension fund that has been undoubtedly closely watching Musk’s move to
buy Twitter is the Orlando Police Pension Fund, which last year sued the
company’s board over self-interested duty breaches related to its decision to
sell a $1 billion stake to private equity firm Silver Lake when the company was
under attack by activist investor Elliot Management.
Katrina Laudeman, treasurer with the City of Orlando, told Markets Group
that the Police Pension Fund still owns Twitter, but that the city does not
comment on matters while litigation is pending. The Delaware Chancery Court
paused the case for six months in November.
The Florida
State Board of Administration also will vote its 808,093 Twitter shares in
favor of Musk’s purchase, according to reporting by Pensions & Investments
and Bloomberg. Two of three SBA’s three trustees, Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis
and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have come out in favor of Musk’s deal.
Vanguard Group is the biggest shareholder in Twitter with a 10.8% stake.
Morgan Stanley owns 8.8% while BlackRock has 6.8% and State
Street 4.8%.
