PennSERS Adds to Real Estate Fund
The Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement Board selected a new real estate manager this week while also reviewing the State Employees’ Retirement System’s (SERS) first quarter investment performance.
The nearly $38 billion retirement board has pledged up to $100 million to IPI Partners III-A from its $2.3 billion real estate portfolio. IPI Partners, a new manager for SERS, was founded in 2016 as a joint venture between ICONIQ Capital and Iron Point DC Management. The plan is to invest in digital real estate, with a concentration on hyperscale data centers.
Overall, the real estate program lost nearly 15% through March 31, 2024.
Leaving its actuarial expected rate of return at 6.875%, trustees reported an overall gain of 11.94% for the year through the first quarter, topped by a 29% increase in US stocks. Legacy private credit funds outperformed other alternative asset strategies on an annualized basis, gaining 11.52%. This program likewise led alternative strategies in the first quarter, with 2.6% gains.
The board also adopted a plan to reduce the asset allocation objective for emerging markets equities by 3% while increasing the target allocation for US equities by 3%.