Ohio BWC redeems from restructured TH Real Estate fund

Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation Fund has requested a full redemption following the restructure of $1.46bn core US property fund.

The institutional investor is redeeming $69.1m from the TIAA-CREF Core Property Fund, which is being turned into a series of sector-specific funds under the TH Real Estate brand.

The US Cities Fund Series was launched in September, following the merger of TIAA Global Asset Management’s US real estate operations with its subsidiary TH Real Estate.

The restructure means investors can choose to invest in four sector-specific funds – targeting office, industrial, retail and residential, respectively – or invest in a single overarching master fund.

It also gives the fund a closer association with TH Real Estate’s European Cities Fund, an open-ended core vehicle launched earlier this year.

Ohio BWC told IPE Real Estate that “The complicated restructuring of the fund made by TIAA-CREF was the primary reason for requesting redemption of all BWC units from the fund.”

TH Real Estate declined to comment.

Ohio BWC said proceeds from the redemptions will be used “to fund future capital commitments not yet funded” for core-plus and value-added real estate funds.

The institution has a number of existing commitments to real estate funds, including vehicles managed by Clarion Partners, PGIM Real Estate, Gaw Capital and Sares-Regis Group.

Ohio BWC expects the redemption to take several quarters. It said there was an exit queue for the fund worth $179.7m, at the end of June.

Redemption requests have begun to build among core US property funds.

According to the the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF), distributions and redemptions hit a new peak of $14.9bn in the 12 months leading up to the end of September.

This represents 8.9% of the $173bn net real assets owned by the 24 funds that make up the NCREIF Open‐end Diversified Core Equity (ODCE) index.

But capital is also still flowing into ODCE funds: the sector reported $18.1bn in contributions over the period, although, at 10.8%, inflows are below average.