State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) has approved a $40m (€37.3m) commitment to a US apartment investment joint venture with MetLife Investment Management.

SWIB said the Metwest joint venture will target non-core investment opportunities in the Southwest region in the country.

MetLife, the manager of the venture, did not respond to a request for comment.

The commitment to the new venture was the only real estate commitment that the pension fund approved during the first quarter of 2024.

During the first quarter of 2024, SWIB’s real estate portfolio was valued at $11.5bn or 9.2% of total plan assets. This compares to an allocation target of 8% with an investment policy range of 4% to 12%.

The pension fund disclosed in a meeting document that the one-year performance of the real estate portfolio on a relative return basis stood at -7.93%, compared with the -12.73% the NFI-ODCE index recorded during the same period.

According to the meeting document, SWIB’s investment staff are reviewing four potential new commitments worth $185m within the pension fund’s real estate investment pipeline.

The plan involves placing $50m each into two core industrial assets through an open-ended fund and a closed-ended fund, making a potential $35m co-investment opportunity in non-core industrial assets and placing $50m into a closed-ended core apartment fund.

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