Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, Little Rock, committed up to $95 million to real estate and farmland funds, said George Hopkins, executive director, in a telephone interview.
The $11.3 billion pension fund committed up to $40 million to Westbrook Real Estate Fund IX, an opportunistic fund managed by Westbrook Partners, and up to $30 million to Almanac Realty Securities VI, a value-added fund that targets private and public real estate operating companies in the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas.
The pension fund had committed $180 million to three prior Westbrook funds and $50 million to the predecessor Almanac fund, Mr. Hopkins said.
Separately, the plan committed an additional $25 million to Halderman Farm Management, increasing its total commitment to $100 million.
Hewitt EnnisKnupp assisted with the commitments.
Also, the pension fund was not able to reach a final agreement with Sycamore Partners for a $35 million commitment to its Fund I in June. Mr. Hopkins said the board was not comfortable with the fund's transparency. “We didn't feel we could live with the non-disclosure agreements,” he said.
