The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (Ohio PERS) has set aside $400m (358.5m) for an opportunistic investment with Blackstone.
The commitment to Blackstone’s Strategic Partners Real Estate Special Opportunities Fund I, according to a board meeting document, amounts to 18.7% of the $2.14bn total capital raise for Fund I.
The fund was created to acquire the closed-end fund interests sold by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) last year.
Ohio PERS investment staff expect Fund I to produce a mid to high-teens net return, according to a pension fund board meeting document.
CalPERS made the decision in July last year that it wanted to sell $3bn of its real estate fund interests on the secondary market, hiring Park Hill Group to offload legacy assets.
The only legacy asset the pension fund is not selling is housing, typically held in funds that had invested in opportunistic real estate in the US, Europe, Asia and India.
CalPERS had indicated that the LP interests could be sold separately or on a portfolio basis.
In April last year, Ohio PERS approved a commitment of $200m to the Strategic Partners Real Estate Fund VI, which invests in LP positions in opportunity funds on the secondary market.
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