RALEIGH \u2014 The Carolina Hurricanes own a piece of North Carolina\u2019s heart. But North Carolina last year passed on an opportunity last year to own a piece of the Hurricanes.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s according to State Treasurer Brad Briner, whose office oversees the North Carolina Retirement Systems, which manages the pension fund for North Carolina state and local government employees.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would obviously be cool to own it as a state, as a pension system, but we don’t get to consider that as part of our investment philosophy,\u201d Briner revealed Tuesday during a regular meeting of the state\u2019s top executive-branch officials. \u201cWe just get to look at economics, and we concluded that while the Canes is an amazing franchise, as a business it didn’t meet our risk and return objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes open the Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday night against the Vegas Golden Knights at Lenovo Center. It is the team\u2019s first Cup appearance since 2006.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And the team\u2019s value has surged since then.<\/p>\n
Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon sold a reported 12.5% stake in the franchise at a reported $2.66-billion<\/a> valuation earlier this year to several different investors, including a former NHL player<\/a>. He bought 52% of the NHL franchise for $425 million in early 2018 and later took full control.<\/p>\n \u201cSlightly embarrassing as we sit here today,\u201d said Briner, a former Wall Street fund manager who has since focused on balancing risk in the state\u2019s pension plan. In particular, he has sought to put more of the plan\u2019s cash into return-generating investments.\u00a0<\/p>\n Passing on the Canes, he said, \u201creminds me of Yogi Berra’s famous quote, and that is, \u2018It’s tough to make predictions, particularly about the future.\u2019 So here we are today.\u201d<\/p>\n