Calpers, the biggest U.S. public pension fund, is seeking opportunities to buy assets of Citigroup and others tied to a $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in the United States, Bloomberg reported.

The $173 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System has broadened its asset allocation ranges to ensure more flexibility and plans to hold its investment review in May, about 18 months ahead of schedule, the report said on Wednesday.

Henry Jones, a Calpers board of administration member, was quoted as saying in Seoul that the fund was looking at some of the assets of these financial companies such as Citi and the others, assets they're trying to get off their balance sheets.

Jones told Bloomberg that Calpers was able to raise enough cash to make good deals even in the tightened credit market.

The TARP program, aimed at bailing out banks and other financial institutions hurt in the U.S. subprime crisis and a global credit crunch, was launched last year by the Bush administration and has been taken up by the Obama administration.

(Reporting by Kim Yeon-hee; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

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