Maine Public Employees' Retirement System, Augusta, committed up to $50 million to Blackstone Real Estate Partners Fund VIII, a real estate fund managed by Blackstone Real Estate Advisors, said Andrew Sawyer, chief investment officer, in an e-mail.
It is the $12.5 billion pension fund's first commitment to a Blackstone real estate fund. However, the pension fund previously committed $30 million to Blackstone Capital Partners VI, a private equity fund, in June 2010.
Separately, the pension fund's board on Jan. 8 approved a total of up to $300 million in future private equity and real estate co-investments, alongside existing funded commitments, with a maximum of $25 million for each co-investment. Also, a maximum of $100 million in aggregate could be co-invested with any single general partner. Mr. Sawyer did not say when a co-investment program would begin.
