Kansas Public Employees Retirement System has grown its infrastructure and real estate portfolios with two new commitments totaling $325m (€281m), the pension fund said in a board document.
For its infrastructure commitment, $225m will be invested in the Blackstone Infrastructure Partners (BIP) open-ended fund, which invests in core and core-plus infrastructure globally.
Blackstone declined to comment on the Kansas PERS investment in the fund.
The pension fund also stated that BIP had been a top performer in the open-ended core/core-plus infrastructure fund universe, producing a gross internal rate of return of 21.8% since inception in 2019.
The new real estate commitment relates to a $100m investment in the Blue Owl Real Estate Fund VII, which targets industrial assets in the US, Kansas PERS stated.
Kansas PERS stated in an email that its 2026 pacing plan includes $500m allocated to real estate.
The pension fund said this would be split, with $150m earmarked for core investments and as much as $350m for non-core. It added that its entire real estate allocation will be invested in commingled funds, depending on market conditions and manager availability.
The pension fund believes that growth in sectors with long-term secular demand drivers like data centres are driving some of the opportunity in the current market.
Kansas PERS has also set a real assets pacing plan for next year. It is targeting $450m for infrastructure funds and up to $400m in other real assets funds, which could be either timber or REITs.
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