Public Employees Retirement Association of New Mexico is looking for investment managers to run a diversified portfolio of liquid securities backed by or related to tangible real assets.

The pension fund has issued a request for proposals and the mandate could be worth as much as $300m (€275m).

New Mexico PERA could hire one or more managers for the mandate.

The mandate could include investments in real estate investment trusts (REITs), infrastructure, natural resources, master-limited partnerships (MLPs), commodities, metals and short-dated Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS).

Companies must have at least $2bn in assets under management, have no less than three major US tax-exempt pension fund clients and have at least one separately managed portfolio of at least $100m in the proposed products or similar liquid real asset completion strategy with at least two years of reporting history.

Strategies should be customised to meet the needs of the pension fund’s allocation over the next 24 to 36 months.

New Mexico PERA has yet to decide on a benchmark for the mandate, which will target total returns of between 6% and 8%.

New Mexico PERA is planning to evaluate potential candidates in June and July. The deadline for the RFP is 5 June.