CalPERS Exec Joining Chase Unit

David J. Gilbert, senior investment officer for real estate at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, is joining Chase Capital Partners, the equity investing arm of Chase Manhattan Corp., as head of real estate investments.

Over the last two years, Gilbert, 40, directed a restructuring of CalPERS’ $6.1-billion real estate program, which accounts for about 4.3% of the $143 billion in investments by the nation’s largest public pension fund.

Gilbert’s new title is group head of Chase Capital Partners Real Estate. Chase Capital Partners has about $6 billion worth of investments.

Gilbert joined CalPERS in May 1996 to oversee and direct the fund’s real estate staff and the external advisors it hires to make and manage real estate investments.

CalPERS’ real estate portfolio consists of office, apartment, industrial and retail properties worth $4.1 billion, and specialized assets such as timber, housing and land totaling $2 billion.

CalPERS is searching for a replacement.