Trustees OK investments for teacher pension fund
Posted on Saturday, June 14, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/228583/
The trustees for the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System this week approved $ 140 million in private equity and real estate investments.
They also decided to grant discretionary authority for the system’s timberland investment manager, Atlanta-based RMK Timberland, to invest up to $ 40 million in Arkansas’ timberlands through the end of this year.
The move comes after the system lost out on two possible timber property purchases in the past year due partly to “the board’s somewhat protracted investment process,” system Executive Director Paul Doane wrote in a memo to the trustees.
“With timber, as with venture capital type-investments, being able to move and react relatively quickly to investment opportunities is often critical,” he said. The trustees on Tuesday signed off on a $ 50 million investment in a private equity fund called Vista Partners Equity III and a $ 50 million investment in a real estate fund called Heitman European Property Partners IV.
The Vista Partners Fund will be run by Vista Equity Partners LLC of San Francisco and will invest in software firms.
The Heitman fund will be managed by Chicago-based Heitman Co. and invest in eastern Europe, which presents “a terrific growth opportunity” as opposed to western Europe, said Doane.
The trustees also approved a $ 30 million investment in a real estate investment fund called ING Clarion Debt Opportunity Fund III, and a $ 10 million investment in a fund called New Boston Fund VII.
Doane said the ING fund will be managed by ING Clarion Capital of New York and invest in collateralized commercial mortgage-based securities.
The New Boston fund will be managed by New Boston Fund Inc. of Boston and invest in office, retail, industrial and multifamily properties ranging from New England to the Southeast, he said.
The system’s investments are valued at more than $ 10 billion.