Texas Employees Retirement System, Austin, committed a total of $270 million to four alternative investment funds in February, a transaction report from the $29.4 billion fund showed.
The largest commitment was $125 million to Abacus Multi-Family Partners V, run by existing manager Abacus Capital Group, from the system's $3.2 billion real estate portfolio.
ERS previously committed $100 million to an earlier fund in Abacus' series.
The fund's portfolio managers will focus on acquiring properties with specific characteristics, such as relative affordability in markets with favorable multifamily trends.
Existing real estate manager DRA Advisors received a $65 million commitment to DRA Growth & Income Fund X, a value-added strategy that will invest in diversified properties in the U.S. in sectors including office, industrial, retail and multifamily.
The previous fund in the DRA real estate fund family received a $50 million commitment from the defined benefit plan.
The fund's investment team committed $50 million to HitecVision VIII from the $4.3 billion private equity portfolio. The fund, run by existing manager HitecVision, invests globally in energy sectors including oil and gas-related service technologies, oilfield technologies and exploration, and onshore and offshore production.
ERS previously committed $70 million to the previous fund in the Norwegian firm's fund series.
The system committed $30 million to a MBK Partners V, a large buyout private equity fund that will seek investment opportunities in China, Japan and South Korea. MBK Partners is a new manager for ERS.
Separately, performance of the defined benefit plan in the year ended Dec. 31 was 14.5%, compared to 16.1% for the benchmark a performance report showed.
Annualized returns for longer periods measured by the fund exceeded those of the benchmark with a 9.3% return for the three years ended Dec. 31 vs. 8.6% for the benchmark; five years, 7.1% (6.8%); and 10 years, 7.9% (7.7%).
