The Teacher Retirement System of Texas has approved $500m (€450.7m) in new commitments to real estate.

The US pension fund backed Almanac Realty Investors and Oaktree Real Estate Opportunities Fund VII, with $200m each.

It also made a $100m commitment to Westbrook Partners.

The pension fund backed Almanac’s CMTG Investor fund, invested in the US through public or private real estate firms.

The pension fund allocated $100m directly into the fund and $100m in a side-car entity for co-investments with the fund.

Texas Teachers has invested with Almanac in the past, having backed the $1.4bn Almanac Realty Securities VII fund in July last year.

Oaktree Capital Management is looking at a $3bn-3.5bn capital raise for Fund VII.

The real estate manager plans to co-invest 2.5% of total capital commitments, or $20m.

The investment fund has a global investment strategy, including borrower recapitalisation in the UK.

Fund VII looks to invest in major property types that include over-leveraged assets and re-positioning opportunities.

The commitment with Westbrook Partners is for the F55 Opportunity Longhorn Fund, targeting US opportunistic real estate.

Westbrook Partners typically invests in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington DC.