UNITED STATES - California State Teachers Retirement System approved investments totalling just over $1bn (€642.2m) into real estate for the first quarter of 2008, in a mixture of core and tactical investments.

The most significant of these was a $400m commitment to GI Partners Fund III - as part of its opportunistic portfolio - as the pension fund did not use an independent fiduciary on this investment, but made the decision based on its past experience of investing $300m with Global Innovation Partners.

Investments in this $2.5bn commingled fund will be made in North America or Western Europe, to gain control-oriented investments in middle-market asset intensive businesses or portfolios that are considered to be underpriced relative to their intrinsic or fundamental values.

CalSTRS has also made a $80m commitment to co-invest in CBRE SP US Opportunity 5 Wood Partners proposition, an eventual $1bn fund which will be used to acquire Wood Partners, an apartment developer and management company based in Atlanta.

Its independent fiduciary, Pension Consulting Alliance, recommended the move, as the long-term plan for the project is to transform Wood Partners from a series of partnerships into a single national multi-family development and investment platform.

CB Richard Ellis Investors made a 51% interest in Wood Partners in March of this year and this is only likely to have enhanced CalSTRS decision as it committed $100m into the CBRE Strategic US Opportunity Fund 5 in the fourth quarter of 2007.

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