The New York State Common Retirement Fund has made two commitments to real estate totalling $525m (€460.2m).
The commitments were $225m to KSL Capital Partners’ IV fund and $300m into Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII.
The US pension fund considers both investments as follow-on commitments, as it has placed capital with KSL and Blackstone in the past.
KSL Capital Partners is planning on a total equity raise of $2.25bn for Partners’ IV, which has a value-add strategy.
Many of the transactions will be in undermanaged or undervalued businesses and properties with high barriers to entry.
These would include hotels and destination resorts, golf courses and high-end athletic clubs.
The structure of the investments will be a combination of debt and equity transactions in the US and abroad.
The deals for the fund will be assets targeting the affluent leisure customer, involving more than 26m US households with annual income of more than $100,000.
Blackstone Partners VIII, a $13bn opportunity fund, will be investing on a global basis, looking at large, complex transactions in the debt and equity sectors.
