UNITED STATES - New York State Teachers Retirement System is looking at investing up to $525m (€356m) in non-core real state through commingled funds and a separate account.

The pension fund discussed all of the investments at its board meeting in November and NYSTRS feels in today's market it makes more sense to be putting capital into non-core strategies as pricing for core assets in major markets have been at record highs in recent months.

There has so far been no indication in the market core properties will be affected by changes in the credit and residential housing markets over the past six months.

That said, it is anticipated new real estate investments discussed at the meeting could be approved after the pension fund has completed its due diligence.

More specifically, Cohen & Steers is being charged with managing a $100m separate account which invests in preferred securities issued by public REITs and real estate operating companies.

The remaining allocated assets will shift into six commingled funds - four opportunity funds, one value-added and one in structured finance.

At least $75m is being invested in both the Walton Street Capital Real Estate Fund VI and the DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners IV while $50m allocations have been made to the value-added CB Richard Ellis Strategic Partners US Opportunity 5 and the LaSalle Asia Opportunity Fund III - none of which are allowed to exceed 20% of the fund's total capital commitments.

An additional $50m was allocated to the CB Richard Ellis Strategic Partners US Value 5 fund alongside $75m to the Guggenheim Structured Real Estate III.

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