Sacramento pension fund manager Cyril Shah is touting what he calls a singular accomplishment.
His tiny, $4.7 million fund has rebounded completely from the stock market plunge and recently surpassed the high it hit when the market peaked in October 2007.
"I genuinely searched hard, and I think we're the only pension fund out there that's come all the way back from the downturn," says Shah, a Raymond James Financial Services adviser who manages the California Boxers' Pension Fund.
Most larger pension funds, such as CalPERS and CalSTRS, remain 15 percent to 20 percent off their market highs.
Shah credits most of his fund's strong performance to a conservative strategy; he invested largely in government and corporate bonds.
But he made a modest shift into stocks last October and another one this March. Both were timely moves.
"It's not that we're doing great stock picking," he says. "We just took advantage of a time when there was a lot of fear and (other investors) were running for the exits."
As a result, the fund matched its all-time high of $4.65 million in mid-September and has kept rising.
The pension fund is fueled by a surcharge on boxing ticket sales and is structured to provide modest benefits to about 700 professional boxers.
Shah's future strategy? He may take a little profit over the next few months by selling some stock holdings.
But for the long run, he says, "I'm bullish."
Lotus in position
Say goodbye to midtown restaurant and bar G.V. Hurley's. And hello to Red Lotus.
After 18 months in business, Hurley's owners recently sold the J street business to Billy Ngo and Peter Kwong, owners of the popular Kru sushi restaurant in midtown.
Hurley's shut its doors last weekend. Red Lotus will open after the new owners transfer the liquor license, complete a minor remodel and train a new staff.
"We could open in November, December or January," says Ngo.
The place will feature an "Asian fusion" menu with a "modern interpretation of dim sum," plus new takes on mainstays like fried rice and chow mein, he says.
Brian Vail, one of Hurley's owners, says he and his partners all have day jobs and realized they couldn't run the business as "absentee owners."
Vail eats lunch often at Kru, got to talking with Ngo and a deal was done.
Vail says he's "bummed" that he and his partners had to part with Hurley's. But financially "it was a good deal for everyone."
Going nuts
Sacramentan Dennis Newhall saw our item about budding plans for planting almond trees in the central city and hosting a festival when they blossom in February.
Good idea, he says, but let's take it further.
He wants to see the trees pollinated so they produce almonds, which can be harvested and distributed to the needy.
That could create some logistical problems. But we're all for a second suggestion from Newhall, a former deejay who's now curator of the Sacramento Rock and Radio Museum.
If it ever happens, he wants the Sacramento almond festival to feature a certain musical group as headliner: The Allman Brothers.
Reach Bob Shallit at (916) 321-1049. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/shallit.
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