North Carolina Retirement Systems has committed an additional $1.5bn (€1.3bn) to real estate investment trusts (REITs) through a separate account managed by BlackRock, according to a board meeting document from the North Carolina Investment Authority.
The pension fund further told IPE Real Assets that “it decided to invest more capital into REITs for total plan risk/return considerations and [that] REITs are being used as a staging portfolio ahead of private market deployment”.
The separate account’s current benchmark, the FTSE EPRA/Nareit Developed Markets Index, will expand to a global index upon the completion of an emerging markets component that is currently under development.
North Carolina Retirement has also made a $200m commitment to the US value-add net lease real estate vehicle, AG Net Lease Realty Fund V.
The pension fund also disclosed several real assets commitments across infrastructure and natural resources, including a $2bn allocation to an internal staging portfolio.
The real asset commitments also include investments made via ArcLight Capital Partners in the form of a $1bn energy, power and US midstream separate account, a $300m commitment to ArcLight Infrastructure Partners Fund VIII and a $200m commitment to ArcLight Power Infrastructure Partners.
A final $100m infrastructure commitment was made to the Brookfield-managed Wheelhouse Co-Invest power generation vehicle.
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