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Dennis Schäfer, Tax Advisor at Loyens & Loeff, presented on the background, timing and likely impact of the Dutch government’s 2019 budget and legislative plan.

What's coming up in 2019? Make sure you don’t miss out and save the dates in your agenda.

The Management Fees and Terms Study analyses the fees and terms structures and rates of non-listed real estate funds.

On 30 August, INREV filed a response to the HMRC consultation on Disposals of assets by non-UK residents and payments on account. Developed with support by the tax committee, the response focuses on capital gains taxation of property held by non-resident investors accruing after April 2019 and is closely aligned with views of the BPF. 

This piece of research, commissioned by the PRI, looks at how ESG engagement creates value for both companies and investors, amid growing evidence that engagement by investors with companies on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues can create shareholder value.

Key recommendations

For companies:

• Companies can enhance their communication with investors by closing the loop between internal ESG information systems, ESG engagement information and ESG reporting practices. This can be enabled by deploying dedicated information systems to manage investor relations.
• Learning opportunities can be extended by ‘acting rather than being acted upon’. Corporations can use engagement proactively and strategically to test ESG policies, identify more efficient ESG targets and KPIs, and build better ESG management systems.
• Political benefits can be maximised through enhanced internal coordination between corporate investor relations departments, sustainability departments, and board-level executives before meeting with external investors.

For investors:

• Investors can enhance the communicative value of engagement by making their engagement objectives, expectations and desired form of success clear to companies upfront. Communicative value can also be increased through improved public transparency and disclosure – and hence social accountability – of how engagement processes are initiated, executed, managed, monitored and evaluated.
• Learning value can be advanced if investors strengthen the feedback loop between new ESG information and knowledge gained through engagement, and their main ESG integration databases and decision-making processes. Learning opportunities can be lost however, if engagement is outsourced without any standardised feedback process.
• Political benefits can be derived internally if ESG and financial analysts work more closely together on engagements. External political value can be gained through better collaboration with clients and their beneficiaries when developing or refining engagement policies, objectives and accountability mechanisms, as well as through balancing individual and collective forms of engagement to create and maintain long-term relationships with investee companies.

Prepared by PRI

ParkLake, located in Bucharest, Romania, is a multi-award winning retail destination developed by Sonae Sierra. It offers a truly unique retail experience that harnesses the beauty of nature by bringing the outside environment inside, giving it a 'park-like' feel. Having attracted a variety of diverse and high quality tenants, ParkLake has become a popular destination not only for people residing in Bucharest, but also those living across Romania. 

Sonae Sierra applied its rigorous Safety, Health and Environment Development Standards (SHEDS) throughout the development project, from planning and design through to deliver. The SHEDS encompass a set of holistic requirements to ensure that a shopping centre will operate with minimum safety and health risk to customers, tenants and suppliers whilst limiting its environmental impact and ensuring the most efficient management of utilities consumption and waste production. By embedding the SHEDS throughout the development, and providing a Safety, Health and Environment Management System (SHEMS) during construction phase, Sonae Sierra has created a future-fit retail destination that fulfils our commitment to creating shared value for our investors, society and the environment. These endeavours were externally recognized with BREEAM Excellent environmental performance rating, as well as the construction works certification according to ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 standards.

Prepared by Sonae Sierra

Melville Rodrigues, partner at Charles Russell Speechlys, and Jeff Rupp, Director of Public Affairs at INREV, co-presents on the background, timing and likely impact of the proposed amendment of AIFMD to create a uniform definition of pre-marketing across the EU.

This study examines the options that fund managers consider as the termination date of their closed end funds approach. This study has been conducted annually since 2007.

Sustainable investing and environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are increasingly becoming a priority for worldwide investors and a trend in what refers to investment strategies and best practices. Several studies developed over the last years, correlate the sustainable investing to superior returns and the investors are increasingly integrating ESG factors in the investment strategy, which positions Sonae Sierra as a reliable partner, and our owned and managed assets as best in class investments.

To help investors capitalize on opportunities in sustainable investing, this article developed by Mckinsey offers insights on how to integrate ESG factors with the investment process—from defining the objectives and approach for an investment strategy, through developing the tools and organizational resources required to manage investments, to managing performance and reporting outcomes to stakeholders. It is based on more than 100 interviews conducted with CEOs, chief investment officers, ESG leaders, investment managers, and others at a range of investment funds, about their experiences with sustainable investing: how they got started, what practices they follow, what challenges they encountered, how they resolved them, and how they have enhanced their sustainable investing approaches over time.

In a constantly evolvingworld, even a traditional sector such as real estate changes and innovates. In the view of KPMG, the future of real estate is directly linked with innovation. The startupsof today are the potential industry leaders of tomorrow. Incumbent firms that not only want to survive, but also thrive, should constantly follow developments and trends of these innovations and startupsas there are numerous lessons to be learned. KPMG gives a comprehensive overview examples and insights into the innovations and startups that might shape the future real estate landscape. Startus have been categorized by several innovation topics based on current market trends, including:

• digitizing processes
• flexible workspace
• healthy workplace
• innovative constructions
• internet of things
• new ways of funding
• platforms to connect
• sustainable innovations
• virtual Reality & 3D mapping

The purpose of the document is to provide insight into the current innovative developments in the real estate market. The information provided for each startup includes key information such as name, country of origin, founding year, key words and website details. Not all startupsare ‘live’ or in full production yet, leaving room for innovations that might disrupt the sector at a later stage. Next to the general classification of startups into nine innovation topics key words are included to describe each startup using specific and recognizable characteristics. Besides key information the publication provides a short summary of the company and the respective product.