Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) is backing US industrial real estate fund manager Westcore with a further $100m (€80m) of capital.
The pension fund established a $400m separate account with the company in 2019. At the time, Westcore, which has recently been expanding its presence beyond West Coast markets, said it had raised $550m of equity in total from a pension fund and an insurance company.
The latest commitment from ASRS comes as California-based Westcore looks to expand into new industrial markets, including San Antonio, Dallas and Houston in Texas.
“We started out as a West Coast firm, but we now have expanded all the way to Florida,” said Don Ankeny, president and CEO of Westcore.
Westcore now has three main capital sources funding its growth: ASRS and two life insurance companies, Cigna and Liberty Mutual.
“Our issue now is not having enough capital but more the challenge of finding enough assets to invest in,” said Ankeney.
“We are seeing more capital sources that have a desire to invest in industrial assets over the past six months. This includes firms that are new to the property type.”
ASRS said it had also allocated $250m of additional capital to its existing real estate separate account managed by Related Funds Management.
The capital will be used to invest in a diverse range of assets in New York City and the Boston metropolitan area.
