GLOBAL - The Los Angeles City Employees Retirement System (LACERS) has approved a request for information (RFI) to hire a real estate manager for a separate account.
Approximately $75m (€54.2m) has been set aside for the search, with total capitalisation estimated at roughly $150m. Pension fund officials said this would be achieved through the use of leverage as high as 50%.
The investment strategy will focus on office buildings in Southern California.
The RFI, conducted with real estate consultant Courtland Partners, will be the pension fund's first separate account relationship.
All of LACERS' previous investments in real estate have been in commingled funds, including commitments into funds with core, value-added and opportunistic real estate strategies.
LACERS will be putting the new separate account into its core sector of its real estate portfolio.
Pension fund officials said the aim of the separate account relationship was to enhance the pension fund's overall portfolio returns and increase diversification.
