New York State Teachers’ Retirement System has added $350m (€261m) worth of new real estate commitments, including the first for its new emerging managers programme.

It has allocated $100m to a value-added strategy run by GCM Grosvenor, a company that specialises private markets and hedge funds.

NYSTRS has several requirements for managers to be part of the emerging manager program: in general, they will manage less than $1bn in commingled funds (with a preference for funds under $500m), they will be third-generation or earlier institutional funds, and/or managers with less than $2bn of assets under management.

The investment strategy for the NYSTRS capital is opportunistic and value-added emerging manager funds and co-investments.

The specific focus for the investments will be with North America equity and debt investments. All property types will be considered for this strategy.

NYSTRS will be targeting net IRRs of between 13% to 15%.

NYSTRS has also approved a commitment of $100m to the Brookfield Real Estate Finance Fund IV. Brookfield Asset Management is seeking a total equity raise of $850m.

The pension fund said the manager had an experienced team with extensive relationships within the banking industry to source deals. Brookfield had a strong track record across their three prior funds where it performed well during the worst part of the real estate cycle, NYSTRS said.

The targeted returns for the fund are a 13% net IRR. The primary investment strategy is to make subordinate debt investments with a primary focus on domestic real estate assets.

The other two commitments by NYSTRS were both in non-core commingled funds: a $100m allocation to Lone Star Fund IX, and a $50m investment in CBRE Strategic Partners US Value 7.

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