BentallGreenOak’s Global Real Estate Investment Platform Receives Top Accolades in the 2020 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), Marking 10 Years of Leadership in ESG

BentallGreenOak (BGO) announced today that its global real estate investment platform has again achieved top global rankings in the annual Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB). The 2020 rankings mark the 10^th straight year of outstanding leadership in ESG worldwide for BGO. The firm’s increased focus on asset resilience as an important element in its investment management strategy for its clients has resulted in several BGO accounts being ranked 1^st overall in the world out of 412 participants in GRESB’s Resilience Module.

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The BGO Diversified US Property Fund continued its leadership streak from 2019, ranking 1^st in the U.S. Diversified, Core peer group, 2^nd overall in the Americas, Diversified sector and 4^th globally for the Diversified, Non-listed, Core peer group. The Sun Life General Account scored its best result ever, placing 2^nd in Canada and 6^th globally for the Diversified, Non-listed, Core peer group. The Prime Canadian Fund built on its history of top 3 finishes, ranking 3^rd in Canada for its peer group. Prime was also awarded the Sector Leader award for its Developments, in the Diversified - Office/Residential, Non-Listed sector. In its first year submitting to GRESB under BGO, West End of London Property Unit Trust (WELPUT) improved its ranking to achieve 3^rd in the UK Office: Corporate, Value-Added peer group and 8^th globally in the Office, Non-listed group.

“Our commitment to making sustainability a guiding principle of our approach to corporate responsibility and a tremendous growth opportunity for our clients is reflected in the results we have achieved this year with GRESB,” said Sonny Kalsi, chief executive officer of BentallGreenOak. “BGO employees around the world are committed to continuous innovation and exploring untapped opportunities to generate value for our clients through our world-class ESG program, and we are looking forward to building on this year’s success.”

"The sustained excellence of BentallGreenOak's ESG program is quite remarkable, setting a high bar amongst global peers. With over a decade of recognized leadership, the 2020 GRESB Sector Leader Award reinforces how BentallGreenOak's commitment to sustainability, innovation, and delivering positive impacts is ingrained at all organizational levels," said Dan Winters, GRESB Head of Americas.

“Our Funds’ first place ranking in the GRESB Resilience Module points to the importance BGO places on addressing climate risks at the property and portfolio levels to drive long-term returns for our clients and investors,” said Anna Murray, Managing Director and Global Head of ESG at BentallGreenOak. “We are proud of the focus our Investment Management and Property Teams place on future-proofing our portfolios. Strategic planning, data-driven insights and standardized methodology enable our teams to assess and mitigate critical vulnerabilities in building portfolios of the future for BGO’s clients and investors.”

In 2020, more than 1,200 property companies, real estate investment trusts (REITs), funds, and developers participated in GRESB’s Real Estate Assessment, representing USD 4.8 trillion AUM. The Assessment covers more than 96,000 assets across 64 countries.

About GRESB

Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (“GRESB”) awards are based on GRESB's assessment of seven sustainability aspects, using 50 real estate related indicators. The assessment includes information on property performance indicators, such as energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, and waste. Details of the questionnaire and GRESB's assessment and weighting of responses are available at https://gresb.com/gresb-real-estate-assessment/.

About BentallGreenOak

BentallGreenOak is a leading, global real estate investment management advisor and a globally-recognized provider of real estate services. BentallGreenOak serves the interests of more than 750 institutional clients with approximately $50 billion USD of assets under management (as of September 30, 2020) and expertise in the asset management of office, retail, industrial and multi-residential property across the globe. BentallGreenOak has offices in 24 cities across twelve countries with deep, local knowledge, experience, and extensive networks in the regions where we invest in and manage real estate assets on behalf of our clients. BentallGreenOak is a part of SLC Management, which is the institutional alternatives and traditional asset management business of Sun Life.

The assets under management shown above include real estate equity and mortgage investments managed by the BentallGreenOak group of companies and their affiliates.

For more information, please visit www.bentallgreenoak.com.

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Contact information

Media
Rahim Ladha
Vice President, Corporate Communications
BentallGreenOak
media@bentallgreenoak.com