Arkansas Teacher Retirement System (ATRS) has approved a $50 mln (€46.7 mln) commitment to Blackstone’s seventh European opportunistic real estate fund, reports Â鶹ӳ»­ Real Estate.

Rod Graves, deputy director for Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, said the pension fund has backed Blackstone Real Estate Partners (BREP) Europe VII.

BREP Europe VII’s capital-raising target is expected to be close to the €9.8bn raised for the predecessor fund in 2020.

Â鶹ӳ»­ says Blackstone is expected to issue a $130 mln co-investment into the fund.

BREP Europe VII targets an internal rate of return of 15% net and 20% gross as it targets transactions including equity and debt deals across Europe.

ATRS said in a meeting document that BREP Europe VII will have a leverage component of 70% to 85%.

BREP Europe VII will mainly target logistics, hospitality and residential assets including student housing.

*see the new issue of PropertEU for an interview with Blackstone's head of Europe real estate, James Seppala. It is understood a first close of the new Europe fund is in the works for H2 this year. In the interview, Seppala says: 'Europe at the moment is providing compelling investment opportunities and we anticipate that will remain the case for some time.'