Mississippi Public Employees' Retirement System, Jackson, committed $75 million to the Heitman Value Partners V.
The commitment to the real estate investment fund was approved at a board meeting Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the $28.2 billion pension fund said in an email.
The investment follows previous commitments of $50 million each in the Heitman Value Partners II, III and IV, the spokeswoman said.
Separately, the pension fund's board voted to put Lazard Asset Management and Longview Partners on watch due to performance concerns. Lazard was added to the watchlist because its "rolling three-year relative performance in emerging markets has lagged the benchmark and peer group," the spokeswoman said. Longview, too, was put on watch for underperformance relative to the benchmark and peers but also because of organizational concerns, including turnover of key personnel, she said.
Lazard declined to comment on the matter. Longview did not respond to a request for comment.
Also, Fisher Investments was removed from the watchlist. The firm was put on watch a year ago following sexually offensive comments made by its executive chairman and co-chief investment officer, Kenneth Fisher, during a conference. The uproar over the off-color comments led many pension funds to cut ties with the firm.
"The PERS board of trustees deemed appropriate Fisher's removal from the list," the spokeswoman said.
