MetLife has made its first acquisition on behalf of Florida State Board of Administration (Florida SBA) after being hired as a real estate investment manager more than 15 months ago.
The third-party fund management arm of the US insurer has bought the Orchard Commons office campus in San Jose for $105m (€88.8m), Florida SBA said.
According to industry sources, MetLife was hired by Florida SBA in April last year for a non-discretionary mandate, which means every investment has to be approved by the pension fund.
Florida SBA did not award a specific amount of capital to the core real estate mandate.
The 22-acre property in San Jose was sold by Lane Partners, which bought it in 2012 for $31m, before investing $16.5m to redevelop it. The complex is today 84% occupied.
Chuck Davis, managing director and portfolio manager for MetLife, said: “The San Jose real estate market has shown robust growth, particularly in the submarket segment where we have continued to build and leverage our knowledge and capabilities.”
Cushman & Wakefield will manage the property and CBRE will look after leasing.