California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) is expanding its Asia-Pacific infrastructure partnership with Australian fund manager QIC.
The $352bn pension fund said in a board meeting document that it had approved a $600m (€509m) commitment to the Golden Reef Infrastructure Trust separate account.
CalPERS made the commitment to the partnership with QIC in May 2015.
In 2016, QIC led a consortium to secure a 50-year lease from the Victorian government to run the Port of Melbourne. QIC said it will be managing an interest on behalf of Golden Reef.
CalPERS said it expects to increase its infrastructure investments by increasing the number and scope of its separate accounts, funds and other forms of joint ventures.
US investments account for 54% of the pension fund’s $4.3bn infrastructure portfolio. Assets in other developed markets account for 45% and emerging markets 1%.
The pension fund said its infrastructure portfolio’s one-year net return was 20.6%, beating its benchmark – 400bps above the consumer price index – by 1400bps.
On a 10-year basis, the pension fund returned 14.4% above of its benchmark of 5.9%.
