San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System (SFERS) has joined the race to invest in self-storage property in the US, as two fund managers seek to raise $1bn (€838m) for the emerging asset class.

The pension fund is investing $75m in a new self-storage fund managed by Crow Holdings, according to a board meeting report.

It is understood that Crow Holdings, which did not comment, is hoping to raise $250m, which would make it the second largest fund its kind in the market.

According to sources that track fundraising in the US, the largest is Prime Storage Fund II, for which Prime Group Holding’s is looking to raise $750m.

According to its website, Crow Holdings focused on self-storage assets that are 50,000sqft or large, and has a portfolio that covers 1.7m sqft in total.

SFERS also revealed it is investing $100m in SC Capital’s latest opportunistic pan-Asian real estate fund.

As reported by IPE Real Assets last year, Singapore-based SC Capital is aiming to raise up to $1bn for Real Estate Capital Asia Partners V.