WINNER

“Amazing execution of a strategic pivot in a difficult market, while delivering strong returns based on advanced sector judgement,” judge’s comment

Country

Canada

Overall AUM

€52,900m

Annual performance

-6.2%

Ivanhoé Cambridge (Ivanhoé) has successfully completed the repositioning of some 300 transactions totalling over CAD50bn (€34bn) ahead of time. The result is increased diversification and resilience based on both sector and geography across its entire portfolio. Driving its performance is its strengthening of its logistics, residential, and life sciences holdings. In addition, it has prioritised promising alternative opportunities within both established and emerging markets.

Ivanhoé’s logistics portfolio was non-existent in 2016 but it is now its largest sector, accounting for almost a quarter of its assets at 23%. Key transactions in this portfolio in 2023 included expanding its continental Europe platform, known as Hub & Flow, with the acquisition of a new speculative logistics development project in northern France and by delivering the final phase or its logistics warehouse in southern France.

These initiatives brought the Hub & Flow portfolio to a total surface of 384,000m². It also strengthened its last-mile logistics portfolio with investments in urban areas, including Munich, Germany and Birmingham, UK. Elsewhere in the UK, it launched the 44-acre second phase of its Milton Keynes logistics project, making it the largest immediately deliverable logistics building in the UK. Other deals included acquisitions of further stakes or new shares in assets in India and the US.

The residential sector is also a priority for Ivanhoé. In Chile it celebrated the opening of mixed-use project combining 196 rental units on 17 floors, plus office, retail and green spaces in the prime Santiago submarket of Las Condes. In the US, it completed a two-building, six-story, 518-unit mixed-use building located in the Californian city of San Jose’s historic Japantown and opened a six-story, 263-unit residential complex in Durham in North Carolina.

Ivanhoé’s life sciences investments offer resilient returns and promising growth potential. Last year, it announced the topping out of the structural steel framing of a nine-story, 350,000 square foot life science development in the US city of Boston.

In other areas, Ivanhoé continued to work towards its net-zero carbon by 2040 goal, which includes a commitment to reduce its carbon intensity by 35% by 2025. By the end of 2023, the operational carbon intensity of its direct investment portfolio had been reduced by more than 30% compared with 2017, while nearly CAD30bn of its investments boasted at least one sustainable building certification.

It has also taken out more than CAD19.6bn in sustainable financing, including CAD15bn of sustainability-linked loans, representing 58% of Ivanhoé’s total debt and deployed more than CAD4.8bn of low-carbon investments since 2020. Finally, it issued its first sustainability bond in 2023 and implemented a Green IRR (internal rate of return) metric to account for the value of carbon and a more comprehensive assessment of the financial benefits derived from a carbon reduction project.

As an inclusive employer and investor committed to having a sustainable impact on communities, Ivanhoé made further progress with its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategy in 2023. It signed ILPA’s Diversity in Action movement and sought to influence its peers and partners by actively encouraging them to establish their own DEI commitments. Furthermore, it continued to receive high level certification and awards for its achievements as part of its strategic social impact and inclusion plan.

STRATEGIC TAKEAWAYS

➤ Successful repositioning of 300 assets in strategic shift

➤ Strong logistics portfolio with further expansion in 2023

➤ Significant sustainable financing programme launched worth CAD19.6bn

➤ Strengthened diversity and inclusion commitment and policy

➤ Prioritised residential and life sciences investment strategy

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Country

South Korea

Overall AUM

€718,000m

Annual performance

-3.16%

In 2023, the real estate team of National Pension Service (NPS) focused more on REITs programmes that deliver higher NAV discounts. To diversify its portfolio, it developed a new index for niche and non-core sectors, the FTSE EPRA Nareit Developed Extended Opportunities RIC 6/45 Capped Index, in collaboration with FTSE Russell. The index has 70 constituents across 10 countries, including Australia, Singapore, the US and the UK. The index was designed to complement existing portfolios predominantly composed of traditional properties and to tap into niche and non-core sectors including data centres, senior care assets and life science facilities. NPS committed KRW 1trn (€683m) to REITs using the index that earned it a 7.4% return.

Country

Canada

Overall AUM

€93,294m

Annual performance

-6.90%

Oxford Properties’ (Oxford) portfolio encompasses logistics, office, retail, multifamily residential, life sciences, credit and hotels spanning more than 105m square feet across four continents. Together with its portfolio companies, Oxford is one of the world’s most active developers with over 70 projects currently underway globally across all major asset classes. In the last 12-18 months Oxford completed one of the largest private industrial real estate transactions in North America, broke ground on the largest logistics developments in the UK and Canada and capitalised on the strong demand among investors for well-leased and located logistics assets with long term income by strategically selling down older-vintage stabilised North American assets to the tune of over CAD1bn (€675.7m).

Judged by

Théodore Economou
Matt Hershey
Peter Hobbs
Lisa Lafave
Jeroen Winkelman

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