has made its first move into a dedicated specialist property fund with a $150m (β¬122m) commitment to the Harrison Streetβs Partners V fund.
Partners V, which has a hard-cap of $850m, is investing US medical office buildings, senior and student housing and self-storage.
Anthony Breault, senior real estate investment officer for the Oregon State Treasury, which makes investment recommendations for Oregon PERF, said the only previous exposure the fund has had to specialty property types was through opportunity funds such as those managed by The Fortress Group.
βWith the size of our pension fund, we like to establish long-term relationships with managers and we are hopeful this will be the case with Harrison Street,β said Breault.
Harrison Street, he said, had a βstrong and proven recordβ investing in property types which βtypically donβt attract a great deal of institutional capitalβ.
βFor Oregon, because of its size, we really canβt invest in a fund that is seeking a $500m capital raise,β Breault added. βOur commitments are typically between $100m and $150m.
βWe need to invest in a fund that is around $750m like Harrison Street.β
The Partners V fund, which has projected 16% net and 21% gross IRRs, will buy existing properties and be leveraged at around 65%.
Harrison Street, which declined to comment, will co-invest a minimum $17m.
The commitment from Oregon follows a $45m allocation to Partners V from the Public Employees Retirement Association of New Mexico.
