CalPERS hires real assets CIO

The pension fund has hired Paul Mouchakkaa from Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing to lead its $29.bn real assets portfolio.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has hired Paul Mouchakkaa as chief investment officer of its $29.6 billion real assets portfolio.

Mouchakkaa will manage 60 staff and be responsible for the implementation and management of a real assets investment strategy and policy.

The real assets portfolio holds investments in forestland, real estate and infrastructure. The pension fund does not have any agricultural land assets and has no plans to create an agri land programme, spokesperson Joe DeAnda told Agri Investor last year.

Mouchakkaa will join from Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing where he is a managing director. Before Morgan Stanley he worked at Pension Consulting Alliance, which he joined from CalPERS where he worked before as portfolio manager in the real estate group. Real estate accounts for a large portion of the real assets portfolio at $25 billion.

CalPERS is currently undertaking a review of real assets portfolio including its forestland assets.