Standards, Tax and Regulations Briefings

Heike Schmitz, Partner from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, presented the European Commission’s proposed revisions to the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and outlined the key changes. She was joined by Aleksandra Njagulj, Managing Director, Global Head of ESG in Real Estate at DWS Group, and Anisha Galli, Consultatnt at Linklaters, to assess the potential implications for non-listed real estate funds. 

Jan Gruter, Steven Ward and Angus Gill, Partners at Addleshaw Goddard LLP,presented the key insights from their recently released Private Funds Trends Report. The session explored movements in management fees, co-investment terms and the debate between sponsors and investors on fund expenses. It also covered views on the evolution of fund finance terms in fund documentation.

Heike Schmitz, Partner from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, presented on the growing relevance of Impact Investing. She covered the key elements and evolution of impact investing and explored current regulatory developments. The session included case studies, presented by John Levy from Franklin Templeton Real Asset Advisors and Marleen Bekkers from PATRIZIA Global Partners, illustrating practical applications of impact investing strategies.

We discussed key highlights from the paper, Integrating environmental considerations in investment underwriting, and heard from a panel of industry experts including Aleksandra Njagulj, Managing Director, Global Head of ESG, Real Estate at DWS, John Fahey, Managing Director at CBRE IM and Anna Illarionova, Senior Manager ESG Consulting at EY. 

We encourage you to share your insights on how the findings of this paper relate to your market experience. You can contribute to this initiative by filling in this survey.

The Aligning Real Estate Sustainability Indicators (ARESI) white paper aims to address existing ambiguities in real estate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) within the European legislative framework, in order to unlock investment and drive decarbonisation of real estate. Robbie Epsom, EMEA Head of Sustainability at CBRE Investment Management, and Hugh Garnett, Investor Strategies Senior Specialist - Real Assets at IIGCC presented this industry proposal to enhance clarity and consistency in sustainability reporting.

During this briefing, Sofia Cordeiro, ESG Analyst at INREV, gave insights into INREV’s paper on the impact of real estate on nature, highlighting the importance of nature-positive strategies and the growing role of frameworks like TNFD. Lucas Wouters, Portfolio Manager Responsible Investment at APG AM, shared an investor’s perspective, showing how biodiversity risks are assessed across real estate portfolios using the TNFD LEAP approach and tools like IBAT and STAR metrics, and Emily Hamilton, Chief Sustainability Officer Savills Investment Management, showed how nature-based solutions were embedded at Bourn Quarter, demonstrating the tangible benefits of enhancing biodiversity for real estate resilience and asset value.

INREV’s recent paper, Introduction to EU Taxonomy, offers practical insights into aligning real estate activities with the EU Taxonomy framework. During this briefing, Aleksandra Njagulj, Managing Director, Global Head of ESG in Real Estate at DWS, demonstrated how the assessment process works for DWS. Jeff Rupp, Public Affairs Director at INREV, joined her to focus on compliance with Section 7.7 (Acquisition and Ownership of Buildings), addressing the criteria for substantial environmental contributions, the “do no significant harm” principle, and adherence to minimum safeguards.

Susan van de Koppel-Nagelmaeker, Portfoliomanager at Amvest, presented De Trappenberg – Living and Care Fund: a case study of developing sustainable and impactful senior housing. Susan was followed by Anna Olink, Director, Real Estate Engagement – EMEA at GRESB, who provided insights into 2024 GRESB Annual Survey results on investment in senior housing.
The briefing, held in collaboration with EPRA, was part of European Retirement Week, a flagship platform to debate the future of pensions.

Rasmus Steiness, Transfer Pricing Senior Director, Nick Crama, Senior Director Tax, and Alistair McLaren, Transfer Pricing Director, from Alvarez & Marsal Tax, presented developments in the interest rates and financial covenants applied by lenders and its interactions with updated guidance on transfer pricing requirements and domestic changes to earning stripping rules.

Chris Brown, Managing Director, Climatise and co-founder of the London Doughnut Economy Coalition, Lianne Hulsebosch, Sustainable Urban Development Strategist, City of Amsterdam, and Alice Teboul, ESG Manager Property Investments, Columbia Threadneedle explored how Doughnut Economics and the principles of the circular economy can be integrated into the built environment, fostering cities that respect both social and planetary boundaries. 
This event was organised in cooperation with AREF, BBP, BPF, IPF and REIF.

Jeroen Elink Schuurman, Partner & PwC Global Real Estate Tax Leader, and Tijmen Cabollet, Director Real Estate and Alternative Investments Funds, both from PwC, presented on how real estate funds and institutional investors are taxed in the European Union and what the future holds for cross-border real estate investments.

Hira Sharma and Ed Peters, both Tax partners, Real Estate & Construction at BDO London office, presented on the use of a UK QAHC regime in real estate structures.

The updated Country-by-country Guide now features information on country-level ESG regulations. View an update of the most significant tax and regulatory updates across 16 jurisdictions, including an in-depth briefing of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) presented by Linda Thonen, Partner Legal Business Solutions and Martijn Graafstal, Senior Associate, Tax Real Estate, and Anish Sewbaransingh, Senior Legal Associate, all from PwC Netherlands.

Roel de Vries, Managing Director, Nick Crama, Senior Director Tax and Rasmus Steiness, Senior Director Transfer Pricing at Alvarez & Marsal present how the EU's BEFIT and TP Directives impact real estate investment funds.

Chris Ormond, from Goodwin, Emily Harmsworth, from Linklaters and Aidan McConville, from Addleshaw Goddard, share important insights on the UK Limited Partnership reform and its impact on the industry.

Jelle Bas Boon (Tax Partner) and Maartje Vaandrager (Tax Manager) of Deloitte in Amsterdam, presented on recently announced Dutch tax rules that impact the qualification of real estate investment funds and partnerships.

Note: The situation described on slide 21 of the presentation would not arise if an amendment to the legislation proposed after the presentation is adopted. The proposal would delay the conditional withholding tax on dividends for hybrid partnerships until 01.01.2025 (i.e. the date on which partnerships would generally become tax transparent by default), unless these partnerships would be located in low-taxing or blacklisted jurisdictions

Heike Schmitz, Partner at Herbert Smith Freehills presented how policymakers’ evolving pragmatic approach is creating opportunities for real estate transition funds with carbon reduction strategies to disclose under SFDR Article 9.

During the briefing Alistair Dryer, Head of Europe at LaSalle Global Partner Solutions, Martijn Vlasveld, Managing Director, Head of ESG, Edmond de Rothschild REIM and Jef Holland, Partner, Deloitte Netherlands presented on the main features of the templates.

Matt Huggett and Emma Danforth, partners at Allen & Overy in London, presented considerations related to the extension or roll-over of closed-ended real estate funds and creation of continuation funds for existing portfolios or assets.

INREV, PRI and ULI have embarked on a journey to map and compare the most important global ESG regulations, standards and certifications and to assess each of them in relation to the E, S and G components. Join us to find out more about the results of this project, the Mapping ESG Report.

A joint INREV-EPRA event that featured academic and investor perspectives on how pension funds’ and insurers’ investments in real estate deliver long-term stable income streams that match their pension liabilities. Real estate’s benefits as long-term investments, the diversification value it adds for better risk-adjusted returns and its contribution to the built environment supporting the needs of older citizens were also discussed.

The Country-by-Country Tax and Regulations Guide has been updated and is available on the INREV website. Lilian Palliser, Senior Tax Associate at PWC in Amsterdam presented an overview of the most significant changes in the past year.

A joint INREV/AREF/IPF briefing where we looked at the UK government's progress with significant legislative improvements for the real estate funds sector that includes LTAF, QAHC, REIT and the PIF contractual scheme.