GPIF in First Bets on Its Own for Japan Property, Infrastructure

Japan’s
Government Pension Investment Fund is picking domestic alternative asset funds on its own for the first time, putting its cash in real estate and infrastructure such as data centers.

The retirement fund that’s one of the world’s largest will invest ¥50 billion ($340 million) in total, comprising ¥40 billion for an infrastructure fund and ¥10 billion for real estate, according to documents recently published by GPIF. That’s a shift from its previous practice of entrusting asset managers to choose domestic alternative funds on its behalf.

Those are tiny deals for the fund, which oversees about ¥260 trillion in assets. ...