Investors

With its real estate allocation currently over target and returns in the year to June just 4.9 percent against a benchmark of 10.8 percent, the $15.7bn US pension says plans to commit $100m to the asset class over the next nine months will be put on hold.

The California pension has committed $400 million to Starwood’s $3bn Global Hospitality Fund II, which is targeting 20% IRRs. This summer, Sternlicht said he was rapidly expanding his latest hotel brand: the Baccarat, based on the famous crystals.

A report commissioned by the Kentucky governor’s office has concluded that the Kentucky Retirement Systems' and the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System’s ‘opportunity cost’ for below-average performance amounted to $5bn.

The head of alternative assets for UK pension Universities Superannuation Scheme says portfolio write-downs coupled with the denominator effect have made fundraising tough. Yet many GPs saw this coming, and raised plenty of dry powder ahead of the storm, he says.

The private equity real estate arm of Prudential Financial has bought two office properties in Lyon from Invista's publicly listed real estate trust. The offices are let to IBM, BASF Agro, Scotts France and Merial SAS. Invista will use the proceeds to pay down debt.

The Alaska Permanent Fund has brought on former Microsoft executive Jeffrey Scott to manage the $30bn state investment fund. The fund allocates 10 percent, around $4bn, of its pension pot to real estate.

The world's largest owner of infrastructure assets will now raise third-party capital to back infrastructure GPs around the globe.

The public pension has committed to Carlyle’s fourth Asian growth fund, Welsh Carson’s 11th buyout fund, First Reserve’s 12th energy fund and Clessidra's second Italy-focused fund. Together these four funds are targeting more than $22bn.

The director of private equity for London-based fund of funds manager SVG Advisers says new funds are unlikely to go to market until 2010, yet firms now fundraising still have sources of capital. He also thinks the current environment making large deals difficult to execute will change in two to three years.

The CEO of London-based placement agent MVision says mega-funds may struggle to get commitments next year and must prepare for longer fundraises. He also finds LPs are now allocating up to 20 percent of their private equity programmes to growth-oriented emerging markets.