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The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the largest U.S. public pension fund, said it earned $2billion more than projected last year amid lower costs and gains in foreign stocks and U.S. bonds. CalPERS said the pension fund’s assets rose by about $20billion, or 19.1%, in 1997, to about $128billion. That was more than the 17.3% gain the pension fund’s administrators had projected, according to a study by Cost Effectiveness Management, a pension performance researcher. By contrast, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 33% last year.

Philip Services Corp. and Carl Icahn are to meet today to discuss whether Icahn will force the Canadian waste services firm into bankruptcy proceedings. Icahn and Foothill Partners of Los Angeles, which own about $200 million of the company’s $1.06billion in bank debt, threatened to force Philip Services into bankruptcy if it didn’t transfer ownership of the company to lenders today. Philips has been losing money because of declining metals prices and copper-trading losses.