UNITED STATES- School Employees Retirement System of Ohio has approved a commitment of up to $25m ($18.6m euros) into the Rockspring TransEuropean Property LPIV.
The pension fund made a commitment at its board meeting on May 17th to globally diverse its real estate portfolio but opted for Rockspring as it felt more comfortable investing with a manager who has been placing capital in the European real estate market for the past 23 years.
Ohio School Employees is expecting to achieve a gross IRR in the range of 13% to 14%.
Manager of TransEuropean Property IV is Rockspring Property Investment Managers, who has just starting the fund-raising process on the €250m core-plus commingled fund.
TransEuropean Property IV will be invested in several property types but will primarily include industrial properties, retail and office buildings.
Rockspring is seeking the fund’s assets mostly in existing properties which are thought to provide solid income from day one or which could add some value in the future, either as an expansion or redevelopment.
Transactions will be made in properties across Europe, with likely target markets set as France, Portugal, Germany, Finland and the Benelux countries.
This latest commingled fund investment fits into Ohio School Employees’ real estate investment plan for fiscal year 2007, as the pension fund has decided to
invest in international real estate through a 15% allocation to commingled funds.
