Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) is investing $750m (€711.8m) in real estate operating companies through its existing partner Calzada Capital Partners.
The pension fund told IPE Real Assets that it approved the follow-on commitment to Calzada because the manager “has a strong and effective team engaged in attractive strategies in the US, Latin America and Australia”.
WSIB has so far issued $5.6bn worth of commitments to Calzada. The relationship represented 20.7% of WSIB’s real estate portfolio as of the end of last year.
WSIB said real estate operating companies are an attractive structure as it gives the pension fund a high degree of controlling interest and hand-picked professional teams.
“This approach is best achieved with large scale plus a strong internal team for oversight.”
Previous investments made by Calzada include investing in US manufactured housing firm Hometown America and a Chilean self-storage real company AKI KB. Calzada has also invested in French Polynesia resort owner Pacific Beachcomber and Pittman Industrial in Australia.
To read the latest edition of the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here.
