The Employees Retirement System of Texas is to invest up to $300m (€276m) in infrastructure.

The US pension fund said it would increase its investment in the sector in the next fiscal year.

Texas Employees had $250m in planned investment for the current year.

The pension sees infrastructure as a source of stable, inflation-protected cash flow with some capital appreciation.

The pension fund, in a board meeting document, said non-core assets presented better relative risk-adjusted value for many investors than more competitive core assets.

The pension fund plans to invest the capital in funds and co-investments with specific infrastructure assets.

Texas Employees will remain opportunistic in its approach and flexible regarding the pace of deployment, it said.

With a long-term goal of having 4% of its total plan assets in infrastructure, the pension fund wants to invest in North America, Europe and Australia.

The fund will consider the power, telecommunications, energy, utilities and transportation sectors.

Texas Employees started its infrastructure programme in 2013 and has since committed $528m.

As of the end of 2015, the fund had $295.9m of assets, accounting for 1.2% of the pension fund’s total plan.

The IRR return on the portfolio since inception is 7.2%.