Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board (Mass PRIM) is to hire Brookfield Investment Management and Presima to invest $400m (€376m) in real estate investment trusts (REITs).

The two $200m global mandates, which will be approved at Mass PRIM’s board meeting in December 1, concludes a search for REIT managers that began in July this year with the help of The Townsend Group, according to a pension fund document.

Last year, the pension fund removed its incumbent REIT manager, EII Capital Management, last year, transferring the management of the account to Invesco Real Estate on an interim basis.

At the time, the market value of the portfolio was approximately $507m. In March of this year, Mass PRIM liquidated $385m of the portfolio to rebalance its exposure to REITs from 27.5% to its policy target of 20%.

Mass PRIM said Brookfield and Presima will put together relatively concentrated porfolios, focusing on REITs they identify to have the best strategies.

Mass PRIM said it had selected BlackRock and Timbercreek Asset Management as two back-up managers.