New York State Common Retirement Fund and MetLife have expanded their joint investment programme in US real estate.

The US pension fund has made a $300m commitment to MetLife Core Plus Partners II, a follow-up to the previous joint venture announced last year, according to a document seen by IPE Real Estate.

The commitment will give NYS Common Retirement Fund a 49.9% stake in the new joint venture, which has been established to invest in real estate across the country.

The rest of the capital is coming from MetLife’s general account.

MetLife Real Estate Investors, the insurer’s real estate fund management platform, will manage the joint venture.

NYS Common Retirement Fund has full investment discretion, meaning MetLife will need approval for all transactions.

MetLife declined to comment.

The two institutions first entered into a joint venture just over a year ago, when NYS Common Retirement Fund invested $345m in MetLife Core Plus Partners.

The strategy for the new joint venture will differ from its predecessor, which invested in an existing portfolio of high quality assets. The portfolio had seven assets worth $1.4bn and covered 3.7m sqft of space.

The new capital will be invested in core-plus and value-add deals across the office, apartment, industrial, retail and mixed-use sectors, with some development exposure. There are no pre-specified assets.