Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund has disclosed its first direct LP commitment to an unlisted infrastructure equity fund.

GPIF, which is the world’s largest pension fund with ¥224.7 trillion ($1.59 trillion; €1.44 trillion) in assets under management, said that it has committed $300 million to Brookfield Asset Management’s flagship Brookfield Infrastructure Fund V.

It will also commit the same amount to a co-investment sleeve, according to a recent commitment notice from the fund.

Brookfield Infrastructure Fund V closed on $28 billion towards the tail-end of 2023, making it the largest closed-end infrastructure vehicle ever raised. The firm disclosed it had also raised another $2 billion for co-investments, although it does not raise a sidecar and instead taps LPs for co-investment capital as and when investment opportunities arise.

GPIF’s commitments extend its existing relationship with Brookfield, after it chose the GP for its second direct LP commitment in real estate with a $500 million investment in Brookfield Strategic Real Estate Partners V last year. It has also made direct LP commitments to a real estate fund managed by Blackstone and private equity funds managed by Hellman & Friedman, CVC Capital Partners and EQT.

GPIF senior director and head of infrastructure Kikuko Emae flagged at the Infrastructure Investor Network Tokyo Summit, held last June, that the pension was in due diligence over several fund commitments. Until now, GPIF has invested in unlisted infrastructure exclusively through fund of funds structures or gatekeepers.

“We will not be able to engage with every fund manager, but especially for larger funds with a stable track record, we are comfortable with investing in their funds directly,” she said at the time.

“As we grow, we also need to think about how best to construct our portfolio. We are in continuous dialogue with fund managers and LPs to learn what co-investment programmes they can offer us. We believe it’s a natural trajectory for investors like ourselves, where we first worked with fund of funds managers on a discretionary basis to build a stable portfolio, then gradually work towards choosing what things we can manage ourselves.”

GPIF currently allocates just 0.64 percent of its AUM to infrastructure investments. It is allowed to invest up to 5 percent of its total AUM in unlisted assets, although it is currently far below this figure. According to Emae, GPIF views this as a cap and not a target.