Bentall Kennedy Group selected by AustralianSuper as its real estate investment advisor in Canada

TORONTO, Sept. 6, 2016 /CNW/ - Bentall Kennedy announces today that it has been selected to represent AustralianSuper, a superannuation fund managing retirement assets of AUD$100 bn on behalf of over 2 million members in that country, as its real estate investment advisor in Canada with a mandate to pursue commercial real estate investment opportunities nationwide.

The Canadian separate account mandate awarded to Bentall Kennedy by AustralianSuper is intended to span a broad range of real estate investment types, including large-scale commercial business district office properties, regional malls and mixed-use development opportunities in Canada's major urban centres.

"AustralianSuper seeks to work with the best partners on a global basis," said Jack McGougan, AustralianSuper's Head of Property Investments. "In Bentall Kennedy, we have selected an advisor that offers deep expertise in an important global real estate investment market and will represent our members' interests according to the highest fiduciary standards," added McGougan.

"Our obligation on behalf of the members that have entrusted us with their retirement savings is to ensure that they know their fund is working to deliver them the best possible retirement outcome as the fund looks to invest in some of the world's best assets."

In Australia, employers pay retirement, or 'super', contributions of almost 10% of employees' annual salaries into their super accounts.

"We are very pleased to have been selected as AustralianSuper's real estate investment advisor in Canada," said Gary Whitelaw, Group Chief Executive Officer, Bentall Kennedy. "We are well positioned to execute on this mandate on behalf of AustralianSuper's members through our research driven strategies, our strong commitment to responsible and sustainable investment practices, and a comprehensive knowledge of the Canadian real estate investment market that should offer a consistent, high-quality complement to AustralianSuper's growing portfolio of direct foreign property holdings."

"We look forward," added Paul Zemla, Chief Investment Officer for Bentall Kennedy in Canada, "to working with AustralianSuper in diverse contexts within this mandate, including joint venture partnerships with major Canadian pension funds, private asset owners and our many current Bentall Kennedy institutional clients."

About Bentall Kennedy

Bentall Kennedy, a Sun Life Investment Management company, is one of the 30 largest global real estate investment advisors and one of North America's foremost providers of real estate services. Bentall Kennedy serves the interests of more than 550 institutional clients and investors managing approximately $43 billion of assets across 60 million square feet of office, retail, industrial, and multi-residential properties throughout Canada and the U.S. (as of the most recently completed fiscal quarter). Bentall Kennedy is a member of UN PRI and a recognized Responsible Property Investing leader ranked 1st globally in its peer group in the 2015 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB). Bentall Kennedy includes Bentall Kennedy (Canada) Limited Partnership, Bentall Kennedy (U.S.) Limited Partnership and the real estate and commercial mortgage investment groups of certain of their affiliates, all of which comprise a team of real estate professionals spanning multiple legal entities. The assets under management shown above include real estate equity and mortgage investments of the companies within Bentall Kennedy, and exclude assets scheduled to transition out of Bentall Kennedy. All amounts cited are in Canadian dollars. For more information, visit www.bentallkennedy.com.

About AustralianSuper

AustralianSuper manages more than AUD $100 billion of members' assets on behalf of more than two million members from across 210,000 businesses. One in 10 working Australians is a member of AustralianSuper.

SOURCE Bentall Kennedy

Jackie Gallant, Head of Institutional Marketing and Communications, (w)416-204-3894, (m)416-268-8961, [email protected]; Stephen McMahon, Head of External Relations, AustralianSuper, [phone] or [phone], [email protected]