GLOBAL 鈥� The Teacher Retirement System of Texas has approved $465m (鈧�360m) of real estate investment commitments, including $200m for the $4bn-plus Starwood Distressed Opportunity Fund IX.
Texas Teachers will also invest $150m in the Oaktree Real Estate Opportunities Fund IV, $100m in a separate co-investment with Oaktree Capital Management, and $15m in Berkeley Capital Partners III.
The pension fund鈥檚 commitment to Starwood Capital鈥檚 new fund will have helped the company amass more than $4bn in capital for the global opportunistic strategy.
Starwood intends for more than two-thirds of the fund to be made up by distressed debt acquisitions. The company has just announced the hiring of Zsolt Kohalmi, former CIO at , to lead its investments in Europe.
Texas Teachers has also backed Oaktree鈥檚 latest global opportunity fund, which will target over-leveraged assets and restructuring opportunities.
The $100m co-investment with Oaktree will provide equity for STORE Capital, a privately owned real estate investment trust (REIT) specialising in triple-net sale-and-leasebacks.
Formed in 2011, STORE Capital, which stands for single-tenant operational real estate, invests in assets such as chain restaurants, supermarkets, drug stores and other properties for single tenants.
The $15m commitment to Berkeley Capital Partners, significantly smaller than the others, forms part of Texas Teachers鈥� real estate emerging-manager programme.
San Francisco-based Berkeley focuses on investments in industrial properties in US markets, including Sacramento, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth.
Emerging-manager programmes, which are being pursued by a number of US pension funds, provide access to fund managers whose strategies or activities would otherwise be too small for large investors like Texas Teachers.
