Heitman is targeting $140m ($125m) of capital for the first close of its new Asia-Pacific fund, according to a prospective investor.

A board meeting document of the Los Angeles City Employees Retirement System (LACERS) shows that real estate investment manager has attracted most of the capital ($120m) from investors advised by The Townsend Group.

LACERS, itself advised by Townsend, is considering committing $25m to Heitman Asia-Pacific Property Fund, meaning it will join other first-round investors from the US, Europe and Asia.

The real estate consultant has analysed other Asia-Pacific real estate funds in the market, including Propertylink Australia Industrial Fund II, Carlyle China Realty, LaSalle Asia Opportunity Fund V, AEW Value Investors Asia III and Blackstone Real Estate Partners Asia II.

Heitman, which did not comment, has a $250m fundraising target and a $350m hard cap, according to LACERS.

Heitman, which will co-invest of up to 1%, has closed on an investment for the fund, investing $15m in a joint venture to own self-storage assets in Singapore.

It has six other potential investments in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Tokyo, in the office, retail, student housing and self-storage sectors.

The fund has a target return of 14-16% gross and 11-13% net, using up to 55% leverage.