REAL ESTATE - The New York State Teachers Retirement System has put together a $100m (€77.2m) joint venture with Inland Real Estate Corp. to invest in retail properties in Texas.

The fund was the driving force behind the venture as it had a hole in its retail portfolio in the state.

Inland chief operating officer Mark Zalatoris said: “The pension fund came to us and was looking for a venture partner to find some retail transactions in Texas to round out its portfolio.”

These two firms do have some history together. NYSTRS and Inland formed a $400m venture at the end of 2004 to invest in retail properties in Chicago and Minneapolis.

The New York fund has invested $80m in the new venture. This transaction was done through its separate account real estate manager, Morgan Stanley Real Estate. Inland contributed the other $20 million. The ownership split of any assets purchased by the joint venture will follow the same split as the equity contributions.

Inland Real Estate will be sourcing the Texas markets for transactions. Both companies must agree on any transaction for a closing to occur.

Meanwhile, Cobalt Capital Partners has raised $227m of equity for its Cobalt Industrial REIT investment fund. It’s structured as a private REIT.

There was a total of seven institutional investors in the fund. The lead sponsor of the fund was the USAA Real Estate Company. Another investor in the fund was the Michigan Department of Treasury. It has currently invested $16.55m into the fund.