In financial crisis, teachers come out on top
Not all Bear Stearns news is depressing, just nearly all of it. Take a retirement fund in Ohio, which held the slammed stock but still wiggled out on top.The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio scored big when JP Morgan Chase & Co. received federal financial assistance and initiated a purchase of Bear Stearns Cos.
How big? Think millions!
The Ohio teachers plan had about 790,000 shares of Bear Stearns shares worth about $30 apiece Friday, March 14. The teachers fund had sold much of that by nightfall Monday, March 17, for between $3.50 and $4 a share, taking a hit of about $17 million. The system retained about 127,000 shares. But that’s just the first part of the story.
The collapse ultimately did not pummel the Ohio fund because it didn’t have all its eggs in one stock basket. Investment professionals — and teachers — in Cincinnati were reading the Enquirer to see how it all turned out. And turn positive it did, quickly.
The Ohio teachers retirement system also owns about 6.6 million JP Morgan shares, which moved up $3.77 Monday, a gain of $25 million. The fund spokesman was quoted as confirming the system made a “considerable amount of money on that.”
With images dancing in their heads of Bear Stearns workers lugging personal property from the stricken headquarters in New York City, Ohio teachers — if they had read the investment list for their retirement fund — must have been shaking in their slippers. Then came the good news: In the end, the fund had at least an $8 million-plus gain on the Bear Stearns – JP Morgan Chase pairing.
How did the Bear Stearns deal affect them? Handsomely, thanks to their JP Morgan stock. Public school teachers deserve a break any day.
Nancy Darnell
Assistant Business Editor
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