CONTACT:
Robert
Whalen
(212) 681-4840
FOR RELEASE:
Immediately
June 25, 2010

INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR NAMES CRF ‘LARGE
PLAN OF THE YEAR’
DiNapoli’s Restructured Hedge Fund Portfolio
Wins Industry Recognition
The $132.6 billion New York State Common
Retirement Fund (Fund) was recognized by Institutional Investoras
its Large Public Plan of the Year at the magazine’s 8th Annual
Hedge Fund Industry Awards event last night in New York City, State Comptroller
Thomas P. DiNapoli announced today.

“We have a great team of investment professionals
dedicated to the Fund’s success, and I am happy Institutional Investor
recognized the work that we do,” DiNapoli said. “We’ve been recognized
by the Pew Center as having one of the strongest public pensions in the
U.S., and now the industry has taken notice of the effective changes we’ve
made in managing Fund assets.”

The Fund was recognized for “demonstrated
excellence” in absolute return investing as well as its long-term performance
and its ability to build and manage a hedge fund portfolio, according to
the magazine’s selection criteria.

DiNapoli initiated a review of the absolute
return strategies portfolio in 2007 and decided to restructure the program
to reduce inefficiencies and redundancies and reduce management fees.

The ARS portfolio had $3.8 billion invested
and generated a 14.95 percent return for the fiscal year ended March 31,
2010. The program outperformed the portfolio benchmark, the HFRX index,
by 208 basis points over the period. Over the past two years of the restructuring,
the program outperformed the HFRX by 685 basis points and the S&P 500
by 704 basis points.

DiNapoli is trustee of the Fund, which exists
to provide benefits to more than one million active and retired public
service employees, police officers and firefighters.

###