The Illinois City Retirement Fund is backing the Barings Real Estate Debt Income Fund with a commitment of $150 million (138 million euros), the pension fund reported in an email.
Barings is the custodian of this mixed fund. It is not yet clear what the mixed fund’s fundraising target will be, and Barings declined to comment further.
IPE Real Asset understands that the debt income fund is intended to provide real estate debt against a variety of assets located throughout the United States.
Barings has already developed an aggressive strategy regarding real estate debt. This includes investments in offices, industrial, retail, apartments, life science buildings, and hotels.
Property managers are looking at deals in a variety of markets across the United States, including California, Dallas, Boston, and Kansas City.
The pension fund’s new commitment more than doubles the size of the Illinois municipal real estate portfolio managed by Barings to more than $75 million.
Illinois City has added two new initiatives totaling $100 million to its infrastructure portfolio, according to the pension fund.
One of the commitments was $75 million to Partner Group Direct Infrastructure IV. This mixed fund aims to invest in a variety of giga themes including digital/automation, new livelihoods and decarbonization/sustainability.
Another commitment was a $25 million investment in the JLC Infrastructure Fund II. JLC Infrastructure is minority owned by the City of Illinois.
The manager has been active in investing in infrastructure sectors such as airports, telecommunications, solar, natural gas, renewable gas and social.
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