NORTH AMERICA – The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) has approved a $250m (€192m) commitment into the Institutional Logistics Partners partnership.

CalPERS will hold a 99.5% ownership position in the partnership, while the other 0.5% will be held by the partnership's real estate manager, Bentall Kennedy.

The ILP Partnership will invest in industrial properties in the US, and sit within CalPERS' 'base' portfolio.

This objective on this part of its portfolio is to invest in properties with stable cashflows using a long-term hold strategy and structure. 

It will comprise stabilised, high-quality, core assets in primary market locations in the US. 

The pension fund seeks to have up to 75% of its real estate portfolio invested in stable and incoming-producing properties.

CalPERS made the investment in ILP based on a 'prudent person' report conducted by Crosswater Realty Advisors. 

This kind of report is a requirement for any real estate investment worth more than $50m, according to the current CalPERS investment policy for real estate.

CalPERS has a little ways to go before it reaches its 10% targeted allocation for the asset class. 

The pension fund has invested 8.4% of its $255bn of total plan assets in asset class.