The Maryland State Retirement and Pension System is shaking up its domestic REIT portfolio as the fund has fired LaSalle Investment Management and will shift its $311 million domestic REIT portfolio to State Street Global Advisors.
From IPE Real Estate:
Maryland State declined to comment or provide a reason for the decision, while LaSalle failed to respond.
The $311m (€244m) domestic REIT portfolio will be transferred to State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), with a global investment strategy for REITs, benchmarked against the FTSE/EPRA NAREIT Developed Index.
Maryland State said it had a long relationship with SSgA across passive equities, core fixed income and EMD.
The pension fund also uses Morgan Stanley as a global REIT manager for a $387.6m foreign portfolio, also benchmarked against the FTSE/EPRA NAREIT Developed Index.
Maryland State has approved a $50m commitment to CBRE Strategic Partners US Value Fund VII.
CBRE Global Investors is raising $1.5bn for the US-focused fund, in which it will co-invest a maximum $30m.
The fund, which will invest in the office, industrial, hotel, retail and apartment sectors, has a targeted 15% gross IRR and a 12.8% net.
The pension fund has made nearly $280m in commitments to CBRE Investors since 2007.
The Maryland State Retirement and Pension System manages nearly $45 billion in assets and allocated 6.9 percent to real estate.