Texas Teachers Commits $775M to Real Estate, Venture, and Buyout Funds 

The Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) continued to scale its private markets program in July, committing $775 million across real estate, venture capital, and buyout strategies. The moves further diversify TRS’s more than $63 billion combined real estate and private equity portfolios, targeting opportunistic assets and emerging growth opportunities. 

On the real estate side, TRS added $300 million to the Starwood Distressed Opportunity Fund XIII Global, part of a long-running opportunistic vintage from Starwood Asset Management and one of the firm’s largest global distressed platforms. The pension fund also made a $75 million allocation to DB Yogi Co-Invest, managed by DigitalBridge, a new relationship for TRS focused on hyperscale data center assets, and another $75 million to DivCore Fund VII, which pursues discounted acquisitions from liquidating lenders, rescue capital, and forced sellers in key U.S. markets. 

In private equity, TRS deployed capital across five mandates, adding venture capital to the mix. Existing manager Great Hill Partners secured $150 million for its Equity Partners IX-Pref fund, a $5 billion-target buyout vehicle focused on North America and Western Europe. Ridgemont Partners Management received $100 million for its Equity Partners V, targeting business services, industrial growth, and healthcare. New entrant Khosla Ventures received three commitments: $31 million to Khosla Ventures IX, $28.5 million to Khosla Ventures Opportunity III, and $15 million to Khosla Ventures Seed G, spanning consumer, enterprise, therapeutics, and deep tech sectors. 

The strategic expansion comes as TRS’s private equity portfolio posted a 7.1% return for the 12 months ended March, and its absolute return strategies gained over 12% in the same period.