New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYSCRF) is planning to ramp up its infrastructure exposure by nearling doubling its commitments to investment strategies.
The $192bn (€160bn) pension fund has an infrastructure portfolio valued at $426m and $1.2bn in committed capital yet to be deployed by infrastructure managers.
NYSCRF told IPE Real Assets: “Our current strategic target for infrastructure calls for approximately $1bn in additional commitments. However, we will probably revise this target higher in the future.”
The pension fund recently approved a $200m commitment to an infrastructure fund managed by Paris-based investment manager Meridiam.
The commitment is expected to make up around one fifth of the $900m Meridiam hopes to raise for its Infrastructure North America III fund.
It is the first time that NYSCRF has invested with Meridiam and the first time that the pension fund has backed a strategy to invest in public-private partnerships in its home market.
The pension said the fund provide diversification to its infrastructure portfolio. “We feel there are compelling opportunities in the North America infrastructure sector,” it said.
The fund expects to generate gross returns of 12% to 15% by investing in greenfield public-private partnerships in the transportation, social and environmental sectors.
