The New Mexico Educational Retirement Board has approved a $100m (€94.1m) commitment to Kildare’s second European fund.
The commitment will be placed into the opportunistic sector of the pension fund’s investment portfolio.
The scheme made an initial $80m allocation to the fund in April.
Bob Jacksha, CIO at the pension fund, said: “The fund has an investment strategy that is a good fit for the opportunistic credit sector. One part of this is in buying distressed real estate mortgages.”
As reported in April, Kildare, founded by former Lone Star Funds president Ellis Short, has a $2.5bn cap for the fund and a targeted 25% gross IRR.
New Mexico said it was unconcerned about the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.
“There will [still] be strong investment opportunities in the UK we would like to be part of,” Jacksha said.
Deals for Fund II will be in the UK, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands and involve distressed mortgages and commercial real estate assets sold at a discount.
Most transactions will be between $100m and $200m.
New Mexico has invested with Kildare before, having made a $50m commitment to its first fund.
The fund has produced a net IRR of 13.41% since inception, according to the pension fund’s website.
California State Teachers’ Retirement System recently backed the fund with $300m, as has Houston Municipal Employees Pension System, with $20m in September.
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