Calpers Establishes Fund for Real Estate Investments.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System -- the nation's largest pension fund -- has launched a Los Angeles-based private equity fund, called Global Innovation Partners LLC, to invest in later-stage growth businesses and buyout situations.

CB Richard Ellis Investors LLC, a subsidiary of L.A.-based CB Richard Ellis Services Inc., has been hired to manage the new $526 million fund.

Global Innovation, which also has offices in Boston and London, is looking to make investments in real estate and real estate-related entities, and to capitalize on opportunities created from the convergence of the technology and real estate industries.

"We have already approved several investments that will be announced within the next couple of weeks," said Rick Magnuson, a general partner with Global Innovation. "Our first investment is in the energy sector and our second is in a managed data storage business."

Eric Harrison, a former partner at Crosspoint Ventures, was named the fund's managing director. Global Innovation Partners also has a nine-member management team led by Magnuson, a former buyout specialist.

"Eric Harrison is an experienced executive," said David Cremin, a partner with Zone Ventures. "It's going to be the investment strategy that will determine if they are successful, and that success is hard to predict."

Calpers and CB Richard Ellis Investors are both well capitalized, with connections worldwide. Calpers has assets of $169 billion and provides retirement and health benefits to more than 1 million state and local employees and their families. CB Richard Ellis Investors manages over $10 billion in assets in the United States, Europe and Asia.

"This investment vehicle (Global Innovation) is a unique blend of asset classes that will help capture value for our fund," said Michael Flahermann, chair of Calpers investment committee.

Calpers is expected to leverage its $9.3 billion real estate portfolio to generate a variety of investment opportunities for the fund, including forming strategic alliances with and investing in emerging companies at the intersection of real estate and technology.

Brad Pacheco, a Calpers spokesman, said those opportunities would include telecommunications firms, online commercial property listing services, and energy management entities.

Global Innovation is also expected to assemble real estate portfolios in tech-heavy markets -- such as Silicon Valley, Boston's Route 128 and Raleigh/Durham's Research Triangle -- that are likely to benefit from high-growth industries.

Pacheco said that the fund would also try to provide real estate solutions to high-growth tenants as their strategic real estate partner and potential equity investor.

"Calpers and CB Richard Ellis Investors have a unique opportunity to facilitate the nascent global adoption of technology in real estate, which is expected to improve the industry's profitability, production and service offering," said Magnuson. "The fund will target investments in the companies and real properties which are leaders of the convergence in the U.S. and Europe."

Calpers has already made investments in Southern California, including a $1.4 million stake in Alhambra-based PropertyFirst.com, an online commercial real estate listing service.