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Sienna Real Estate’s vision of sustainable investments, ESG excellence, and collaborative success

Interview with Floris van Maanen, CEO of Sienna Real Estate, to Agefi, France

Sienna Real Estate calls itself a ‘pan-European investment manager’. What does that mean for the investor?

We are an independent Investment Manager with seven offices throughout Europe and one in Asia. This global network allows us to connect clients to solutions no matter where they may be. Say, for example, when we have an investor in the Netherlands looking to move into Spain, we can immediately connect them to our team in Madrid. When an international investor would like to invest in Europe, we already have full coverage of this market. Whether they’re local investors looking outwards to other markets and international investors who want to establish themselves and build their portfolios in new countries, our team is there to assist. We provide all the services of Acquisition management as well as Asset and Property management, coupled with our offices’ local market knowledge and a team on the ground to assist clients directly. This in-house service makes us a reliable partner through the entire holding cycle, and keeps things streamlined and simplified for the client.

Where do you see opportunities in these uncertain times?

In sustainability, which is not always easy. Because we manage on behalf of Institutional Investors, we are bound to adhere to their ESG policies, and align our own internal corporate ESG-policies to them. Because of this, we are experienced in different ESG programs, privy to different approaches and methods, making us well-versed in best practices and a good sparring partner for our investors. What we’ve noticed over time is that the focus is very often on E and less on S and G. That makes sense in Real Estate, where sustainability and biodiversity are essential factors. But that is also where we can take significant steps in implementing our social and governance policies. We are working closely with the ESG teams to build policies that cover all bases and align with the strong commitments of our clients and our shareholder GBL (Group Bruxelles Lambert).

What benefits does being part of the Sienna family bring to you and your clients?

As Sienna Real Estate is part of Sienna Investment Managers, we work alongside the other business units active in private equity, private debt, venture capital and fund management of French pension and savings products. As part of this greater whole, synergy arises between these Sienna companies. In short: with us you have every opportunity to choose your own profile as an investor. Together we create a pan-European platform that offers investment opportunities across the entire bandwidth. You don’t have to shop around for solutions to your various investment needs; we have it all in-house.

As for our own benefits, thanks to our shareholder GBL, we have access to large equity capital that can be used for co-investments, furthering the variety of options we can offer our investors. This not only makes Sienna RE a one-stop-shop in Real Estate, but Sienna IM an all-round Investment Manager.