AXA Real Estate Investment Managers has been appointed by The Teacher Retirement System of Texas to manage a new €135 mln investment mandate, targeting value-add investment opportunities in Europe.

AXA Real Estate Investment Managers has been appointed by The Teacher Retirement System of Texas to manage a new €135 mln investment mandate, targeting value-add investment opportunities in Europe.

The mandate will predominantly focus on mainstream value-add investments primarily in Northern Europe.

TRS is the largest public retirement system in Texas and currently manages $120 bn of funds to finance member benefits. It is the sixth largest public pension plan in the US and among the 20 largest funds in the world.

Pierre Vaquier, CEO of AXA Real Estate, commented: 'An increasing number of US institutions are seeking exposure to value accretive investment opportunities in Europe and this new mandate underlines AXA Real Estate’s capacity to fulfil that demand by bringing real estate expertise to US investors and to deploy US capital in Europe.

'It is also one of our key strategic priorities to leverage the expertise of AXA Real Estate’s market leading European real estate investment and asset management platform, both for the benefit of our clients as well as to enable us to organically grow a truly global footprint. This new mandate demonstrates our ability to achieve both these objectives.'