District of Columbia Retirement Board (DCRB) is doubling its infrastructure allocation from 3% to 6% and has raised its real estate allocation from 6% to 7%.
The $10.1bn (€7.3bn) pension fund told IPE Real Assets that the low level of interest rates across the bond markets “compels a plan like ours to remain increasingly focused on an even broader range of income-producing and opportunistic assets”.
That was definitely a factor in the decisions surrounding the new asset allocation, it said.
Currently, the pension fund’s infrastructure portfolio is valued at $64m, representing 1% of the total investment portfolio. At the end of last year, the real estate portfolio was valued at $595.5m, representing 6% of its total plan assets.
The pension fund has already approved a $100m commitment to Blackstone Property Partners, an open-ended core-plus fund with a $54.2bn total investment value.
The pension fund said it has a ”long-standing and well-serving commitment to public and private real estate, into which Blackstone Property Partners fits neatly”, especially its large-scale core plus focus.
“Our diverse real estate portfolio provides important income and opportunistic return expectations across domestic and international holdings and has therefore been a key focus over the past year or so, especially given the impact the pandemic has had on the sector,”
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