Penwood Real Estate Investment Management has attracted capital from three US public pension funds for its latest industrial real estate fund.

Virginia Retirement System backed the Penwood’s Select Industrial Partners IV fund with a $100m (€90m) commitment and State of Wisconsin Investment Board has comitted $75m. As previously reported, New York State Teachers Retirement System each committed $75m.

The commitment from SWIB is its first with Penwood. The pension fund said it was attracted by the US industrial sector’s strong occupancy rates, demand growth and moderate new supply.

Partners IV, which has a total $500m capitalisation, will invest in southern California and the Port of New York and New Jersey.

The fund, which has a value-added strategy, is targeting returns in the low-to-mid-teens.

The investment by Virginia is part of $350m in new real asset commitments approved by the pension fund.

The pension fund said it had also made a $150m allocation to Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII fund and a $100m commitment to a separate account managed by Pantheon to invest in natural resources.

The pension fund established its relationship with Pantheon in 2013 with a $200m commitment to invest in infrastructure.

SWIB has also made a $150m allocation to Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII, in a follow up to an existing relationship. SWIB made a $150m commitment to the manager’s VI fund in 2007, following up with the same amount in 2011.