NORTH AMERICA – The Virginia Retirement System has added another $350m (€254m) worth of new commitments to its real assets investment category.

One investment includes a $200m commitment to create a separate account relationship with Pantheon Investment Management.

All of the capital will be invested in infrastructure. 

Virginia has plans for a two-pronged attack for the separate account. 

In some cases, the capital will be invested in new infrastructure funds. 

There also will be some investments that involve buying out limited-partner positions in existing commingled funds.

The investment strategy can include a mixture of core and core-plus infrastructure. 

Pantheon's capital is usually committed over 3-4 years, and the funds in which it invests commit their capital over a 3-6 year time horizon.

Virginia has also approved a $150m allocation to the Lone Star Real Estate Fund III, which targets distressed debt and equity transactions with apartments and commercial real estate assets.

The limited partners in the $6bn fund are projected to achieve a 25% gross IRR. 

The fund will invest in Europe, the US and Asia. 

Virginia has a private real estate portfolio valued at $4.1bn, as of 30 June, representing 7% of the investor's $58.3bn in total plan assets.

The pension fund has no specific targeted allocation for the asset class – if it finds an attractive investment opportunity, it will pursue it.

Topics