Almanac Realty Investors has raised $1.42bn (€1.29bn) for its latest fund, Almanac Realty Securities VII.

The US pension fund said $1.26bn would go directly into the fund – $260m more than its original $1bn target.

Almanac, which does not use leverage, is targeting net 12-14% IRR for the fund.

The Teacher Retirement System of Texas and the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System both committed $100m. 

A sidecar vehicle for the fund took $160m in commitments, along with Texas Teachers’s $100m.

Capital will be used to co-invest on specific transactions with the fund.

Josh Overbay, director of investor relations for Almanac, said: “We were fortunate to have strong support from our existing investors.

“Many of them significantly increased their commitment from prior funds, and we were oversubscribed just from existing investors. We only had capacity for a handful of new investors.”

Almanac, which provides growth capital for public REITs and private real estate operating companies, has completed two transactions for the fund worth $270m.

A $150m investment was made in LA-based MA Multifamily Master Holdings, which invests in apartments in select US secondary markets.

A further $150m was invested in a student housing company.

Almanac declined to name the company, which has plans to merge its real estate assets, management and development companies into a single company.

The company buys and develops US student-housing projects.

Almanac has a history of investing in 6-8 companies for each of its funds. 

Most of the companies Almanac invests with tend to be leveraged at 50-60%.