NORTH AMERICA - Teacher Retirement System of Texas has approved $115m (€146m) in new investments for real estate.
They comprise a $100m commitment to US opportunity fund Iron Point Real Estate Partners II and $15m investment in the Southwest Multifamily Partners value-added fund.
The Iron Point investment strategy will cover specialised property types, including placing capital in industrial buildings leased to beverage distributors.
The Southwest fund will invest in apartments, both new development projects, and make improvements to existing assets.
In other news, the Indiana Public Retirement System (INPRS) has approved a further commitment to funds administered by Walton Street Capital, following an earlier $100m mandate granted to Walton Street VII.
The multi-billion public fund had in June 2008 made a $75m commitment to Walton Street VI, now valued at $54.4m at the end of March.
An INPRS spokeswoman highlighted Walton Street's seasoned management team and successful track record, adding that the fund offered "exposure to a broad spectrum of distressed real estate opportunities".
Walton Street was recently forced to sell the former CalWest Industrial portfolio, acquired in 2006, for $2.7bn for its Walton Street V commingled fund.
This 24 million sq ft portfolio was a mixture of industrial properties in California, Oregon and Washington and has since been sold to Blackstone via the sale of junior debt on the properties.
Walton Street's most recent fund will aim to complete investment no later than four years after the final close, with the fund's lifetime limited to six years after the last investment - subject to two one-year extensions.
INPRS has a real estate portfolio valued at $903m, as of the end of May 2012, comprising 4.6% of the scheme's total assets - falling short of its 7.5% strategic asset allocation target.
