UNITED STATES - California Public Employees Retirement System has placed $600m (€424.5m) into a combination of commingled funds, co-investments and separate accounts for international and opportunistic strategies.

This activity is all part of the pension fund's strategy to place more capital into international and opportunistic real estate having announced in August it is considering increasing its international real estate exposure to as much as 50% of the fund's total asset allocation.

One if its latest commitments is $200m into the LaSalle Asia Opportunity Fund III, boosting the commingled fund's assets to $2.5bn.

The major geographical focus of LaSalle's Asian fund is towards Japan, Korea and mainland China, while a mixture of strategies will be pursued to achieve an 18% net return.

A further $200m commitment is being made to urban infrastructure through The CIM Group, as part of its commitment to invest as much as much as $1.5bn in this asset class in the future. (See earlier IPE Real Estate.com story: CalPERS approves infrastructure pilot program)

The deal with CIM, which tags onto an existing relationship with the firm, could bring potential net returns of 10-12%.

To achieve even higher returns, CalPERS has also signed two additional deals in the emerging markets region of India.

At least $25m is being committed to the Zander JV Fund I, which makes acquisitions and new developments in Indian retail properties to bring a 25% projected net return.

A further commitment of $175m will flow into the IF CPL Co-Investment, allowing the pension fund to participate in the Zander Group's 20% stake in IFCPL, a Mumbai-based development company which is building mixed-use projects across several markets in India.

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