The Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management (Mass PRIM) Board has $850m (€784m) to invest in real estate, according to sources familiar with the pension fund’s current operation.
Mass PRIM declined to comment on the amount or whether all of the capital would be invested this year.
It allocated the capital to separate account managers AEW Capital Management, Invesco Real Estate, JP Morgan Asset Management and LaSalle Investment Management.
The level of activity will depend on the managers’ ability to find attractive opportunities.
Any uninvested capital will be held for future investing.
Mass PRIM, which typically invests in the office, industrial, retail and apartment sectors, has its separate account managers focus on core real estate.
Some capital has also been allocated to non-core real estate, including an industrial development programme with AEW.
For now, the managers are only investing in the US, although Mass PRIM is exploring possible separate account allocations on an international basis, including Europe.
In a board meeting document, the pension fund said it would continue to upgrade asset quality and average asset size in its portfolio, as well as consider direct real estate acquisition strategies.
Late last year, it sold an office asset in San Francisco, producing a 19.3% return net of fees.
The building was bought by Tishman Speyer for around $380m, or $700 per sqft.