UNITED STATES - California State Teachers Retirement System has bucked the trend and issued new capital to real estate managers, to could be used for potential investment in 2009.

CalSTRS has extended its initial $300m (€237.3m) non-discretionary allocation made to the Metro fund in August 2006 by an additional $300m (€237.3m), as pension fund officials are said to be pleased with the investment results and want to reward the investment fund with some new capital.

The fund is not planning to invest the new capital any time soon but officials wants some of its better performing managers to have capital at their disposal so they can respond quickly when the market turns around - a mark some investors hope will be seen from the second half of next year.

In turn for its latest commitment, CalSTRS gets an 80% ownership position in the Metro fund while Silverstein Properties will hold the other 20%, and that is projected to achieve net IRR of 13% by placing capital in New York-based metropolitan office buildings.

All of the initial capital has now been invested and led to the acquisition of three existing office buildings as well as investment in a mixed-use development of office and apartments.

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