NYSTRS commits $125 million to real estate

The $88.1 billion New York Teachers' Retirement System (NYSTRS) has invested $125 million in two separate commitments.

NYSTRS made a follow-on commitment of $50 million to the third fund in Cerberus Real Estate Capital Management's Cerberus Institutional Real Estate Partnersfund series. Cerberus Institutional Real Estate Partners III, a value-added fund, aims to raise $1 billion in capital to target investments in distressed mortgage-backed securities in the United States and Europe. NYSTRS has invested approximately $100 million in two other Cerberus real estate funds, Cerberus Institutional Real Estate Partners and Cerberus Institutional Real Estate Partners II.

In addition, NYSTRS invested $75 million in preferred REITs managed through Cohen & Steers Capital Management. 

As of Dec. 31, 2012, the retirement system’s real estate investments totaled $9.7 billion, comprising 10.8 percent of the NYSTRS total investment portfolio. The real estate debt portfolio was $5.3 billion, or 5.7 percent of the total portfolio.