Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) is planning to help create a new Hong Kong-based real estate investment manager by transferring some assets held through its long-running partnership with Evergreen Investment Advisors.
The $128.8bn (€114bn) pension fund has recommended committing $250m to Crane Capital and transferring $400m of assets to the new separate partner, according to an investment advisory notice.
The $400m would be taken from Evergreen Real Estate Partners, a $5.7bn platform that invests in real estate operating companies set up by WSIB and M3 Capital more than 10 years ago.
In addition to the transfer of the assets, some staff from Evergreen would join Crane Capital.
The new company would initially focus on real estate markets in Asia before expanding into other regions.
WSIB has limited exposure to real estate in Asia, making up only 4.2% of its overall $17.2bn real estate portfolio.
The recommendations were made at the pension fund’s private markets committee meeting on 7 February. The board will vote on them on 21 February.
Other real assets investments to be approved include a $200m commitment to Geronimo Renewable Infrastructure Partners.
WSIB had previously made a $300m commitment to the fund, which invests in North American wind and solar energy infrastructure.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly said WSIB is planning to commit $200m to help create Crane Capital through its partnership with Evergreen Investment Advisors. Rather, Crane is a separate entity not a subsidiary of Evergreen and WSIB is planning to commit $250m and transferring some assets held with Evergreen.