Hermes Real Estate and Lionstone Investments have agreed a $250m (€201m) joint venture to invest in the US office sector.
The two companies will use an open-ended structure to invest in US growth cities.
Privately owned Lionstone typically targets well-located office assets on behalf of institutional investors and high net worth individuals.
The company has invested across the core and opportunistic sectors.
Hermes Real Estate, the pension fund manager owned by the BT Pension Scheme, said the venture would look to invest in assets with a longer-term hold strategy.
Chris Taylor, chief executive of Hermes Real Estate, said the company had been actively acquiring US real estate since 2011.
“Lionstone shares our own occupier-driven approach to understanding the key performance drivers from office investment, with a long-term focus on responsible and sustainable investment strategies,” Taylor said.
Earlier this year, Lionstone received $200m from Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund to expand a US office investment programme.
Texas Teachers and California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) have also recently backed Houston-based Lionstone.
In 2011, Hermes Real Estate began targeting European pension schemes looking to access the US via a three-way joint venture with Hampshire and UOB, a Singapore bank subsidiary.
The closed-end HUH US Real Estate Income fund was formed to invest in multiple sub-sectors, including grocery retail, medical offices and self-storage.
British Telecom Pension Scheme (BTPS), managed by Hermes, was the largest initial capital contributor to the fund, with $150m, with Hampshire and UOB each investing $25m.
