NORTH AMERICA – The Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation has allocated $100m (€75.4m) for direct investment in US industrial properties.
CS Capital will be responsible for finding a manager to invest the capital.
Michael Burns, executive director at Alaska, said: “Our existing real estate managers have had a hard time finding industrial properties to invest in.
“We are thus under-allocated to this property type.
“It would be best to find a manager that focuses on this property type.”
The pension fund invests in properties directly through its other separate account managers CBRE Global Investors, LaSalle Investment Management, L&B Realty Advisors and Sentinel Real Estate Corporation.
Burns said: “I would think the capital we have allocated would be best suited for some kind of a new separate account relationship. We will, however, be open to all investment structures.”
Alaska is considering multiple strategies for the capital allocated for industrial.
“We would like to invest in both existing assets and some development opportunities,” Burns said.
The leverage component on the industrial capital will be modest.
The vast majority of the pension fund’s existing real estate portfolio has leverage in the range of 25-35%.
According to its website, the pension fund owns 11 industrial properties through its current separate account managers located in markets such as Dallas, Seattle, Minneapolis, Orlando and Anaheim and Redlands, California.
In other news, the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund has approved a $125m investment into the CBRE US Core Partners commingled fund.
According to industry sources, the Core Partners fund will not be a blind pool. One of CBRE Investors’ existing separate account pension fund clients will be transferring 8-9 of its current core assets into the new fund.
The Core Partners fund will be buying core assets in the US on a nationwide basis, including a mixture of office, industrial, retail and apartments.
Illinois Municipal considers its new commitment as a follow-on investment with CBRE Investors. The pension fund approved a $30m allocation into the CBRE Strategic Value Partners 6 in October of last year.
The pension fund has a 6% targeted allocation for real estate. The current allocation stands at 5.3%, as of the end of May.
