Kansas Public Employees Retirement System has made $305m (€264.5m) worth of real assets commitments by investing in a timberland strategy managed by BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group and committing to an infrastructure fund managed by IFM Investors.
The pension fund disclosed in a meeting document that it has committed $210m to the BTG Pactual Open Ended Core US Timberland Fund and made an additional $95m commitment to the IFM Global Infrastructure US fund.
Formed in 2016, the timberland fund’s portfolio comprises assets located in the three primary timber regions in the US. An SEC filing from January 2025 showed that the fund had total commitments of $883m from 72 investors.
BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group declined a request for comment.
Kansas PERS said it expects to fund its timber commitment using capital from its real estate investment trust (REIT) portfolio.
As of May, the pension fund’s $1.4bn real assets portfolio comprised 48.6% in REITs, 42.9% in infrastructure and 8.5% in timber.
The commitment to the IFM infrastructure fund marks the third time the pension fund has invested in the fund, following an initial $100m commitment in 2015 and an additional $50m in 2018.
The IFM fund, which targets a variety of infrastructure sectors, has generated a gross return of 12% since its inception, with the first reporting period being March 2017.
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