The Public School Teachers’ Pension and Retirement Fund of Chicago (CTPF) is soliciting proposals from industrial-focused, non-core real estate investment managers for a mandate of up to $50 million. While the selected investment manager will have discretionary authority regardless of investment structure, the pension prefers to invest the capital through a commingled fund, according to pension documents.
In a request for proposal (RFP) issued earlier this week, the $10.2 billion pension stated that applicants must have a track record of realized investments in industrial properties within the US on behalf of institutional investors. Applicants’ investment vehicles must have a focus of 90 percent or greater on industrial properties and have a “substantially dedicated team” to the property type, according to the RFP.
CTFP issued the RFP in response to a recommendation by its consultant, The Townsend Group. At the pension’s October meeting, Townsend’s Chris Cunningham proposed that CTFP invest in industrial properties as its exposure to the sector is “significantly below the CTFP’s benchmark and the NCREIF Fund Index or NFI-ODCE benchmarks.”
Currently, CTFP has allocated $795 million to real estate, representing 7.8 percent of its overall portfolio. The pension’s allocation target for the asset class is 7 percent.
During the selection process, all respondents to the RFP will be evaluated on four criteria: people (stability of the organization, ownership structure and experience); process (a “clearly defined, reasonable and repeatable” investment strategy); performance (documented ability to meet long-term performance benchmarks and consistency of performance relative to peers); and pricing (fee schedule and associated costs).
Proposals must be received by 4:30pm CST on April 8.
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