Ohio Public Employees Retirement System has established a separate account dedicated to real estate co-investments.

The pension fund confirmed to IPE Real Estate that it has hired LaSalle Investment Management for the mandate.

It has allocated an initial $75m (€66.8m) of capital for the strategy, although this is expected to grow over time.

LaSalle, which did not comment, will focus on across sectors in the US.

It has already made a $25m co-investment in an industrial development.

Ohio PERS is one of the few US public pension funds to have created a separate account with a co-investment theme, according to industry sources. Most pension funds make co-investments on single properties or through commingled funds.

Ohio PERS is also reassessing another of its separate accounts, managed by Great Point Investors.

The review follows Great Point Investors’ recently announced acquisition of another investment manager, Washington Capital Management.

Ohio PERS said: “We are assessing the situation and do not have any further comment at this time.”

Great Point Investors manages $333m of real estate assets for the pension fund, representing 7.4% of its $4.5bn separate account real estate portfolio.