California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers), the $135bn (€138bn) US pension fund well-known for its corporate governance activism, is investing $200m in a Japanese corporate governance fund.

The aim of the fund is to turn around underperforming publicly-traded companies in Japan. Calpers' strategy will be to invest significant amounts in a small number of companies and collaborate with their management to increase the value of the companies for the benefit of the shareowners, employees and other stakeholders.