Forum Equity Partners Announces Appointments of Greg Spafford and Kazeem Jaffer to Real Estate Team

TORONTO, Jan. 18, 2022 /CNW/ - Forum Equity Partners ("Forum"), today announced Greg Spafford as Fund Head and Kazeem Jaffer as Head of Finance of the Forum Real Estate Income and Impact Fund ("REIIF" or the "Fund").  

Greg will be responsible for driving REIIF's portfolio and asset management strategy to deliver outstanding financial and Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG") performance, with Kazeem responsible for the financial management and reporting for the Fund.

"REIIF is an institutional quality real estate fund building on Forum's 25-year track record in real estate investing," said Aly Damji, Partner – Real Estate. "Both Greg and Kazeem bring a wealth of real estate, asset management, and operational expertise to Forum. Greg's investment acumen and track record are complemented by his institutional background and commitment to sustainability, with Kazeem's strategic financial management mindset supporting REIIF's significant growth plans."

Greg Spafford

Prior to joining Forum, Greg was Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager for Manulife's diversified, open-ended Canadian Real Estate Funds. During his tenure at Manulife, fund AUM increased from $3.0 B to over $4.4 B, and benchmark performance increased by a full quartile. The flagship fund also achieved a top ranking for core, diversified funds with all fund assets achieving sustainability certifications.

Greg's portfolio, asset management, and advisory experience also includes his tenure at LaSalle Investment Management (LaSalle Canadian Income & Growth Fund funds), Toronto Community Housing (portfolio strategy), Beutel Goodman (closed end fund asset management), and PricewaterhouseCoopers (real estate advisory services).

Greg holds a Master of Planning from Queen's University and a BComm with Honours from Ryerson University. He is Co-Chair of REALPAC's Fund Management Committee.

"I am excited to work with the accomplished team at Forum to help build its first real estate fund focused on driving both superior risk-adjusted returns and positive impacts," said Greg Spafford, Fund Head.

Kazeem Jaffer

Kazeem previously held senior finance roles at Cushman & Wakefield, Venterra Reality and Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions (BGIS), leading high-performing teams encompassing property accounting, corporate accounting, budgeting, forecasting, treasury, and financial systems. Kazeem began his career in public accounting with KPMG.

Kazeem is a CPA, CA, and holds an Executive MBA from the Ivey School of Business at Western Ontario and an Honours Bachelor of Mathematics in Chartered Accountancy from the University of Waterloo. He is a member of Financial Executives International Canada's IT Thought Leader Committee.

"It is a pleasure to join Forum, a company with a strong sense of purpose and a proud history of successful investing," said Kazeem Jaffer, Head of Finance. "I am thrilled to support the Fund's growth ambitions and continue building the platform to enhance value for our investors in REIIF."   

About Forum Real Estate Income and Impact Fund
REIIF, managed by Forum Asset Management Inc., is an open-ended fund focused on Canadian residential real estate. REIIF aims to provide regular current income and capital appreciation by investing primarily in private real estate. REIIF's investments are focused on multi-family apartments, purpose-built student accommodations, and co-living communities. The fund seeks to target supply-constrained markets to ensure diversity and resiliency of income. The fund will also strive to deliver a sector-leading impact and ESG-driven portfolio that will enhance yields, asset values and future-proof the portfolio.

About Forum Equity Partners
Forum is an investor, developer and asset manager with a focus on real estate, infrastructure, and private equity. Since its founding in 1996, Forum has worked with its partners to pursue value-added and opportunistic investments and achieve aggressive growth through innovation and active management. Forum is committed to exploring innovative and sustainable opportunities that deliver Extraordinary Outcomes™ to its stakeholders. Forum's assets under management represent approximately C$1.6 billion in enterprise value. Visit: www.forumequitypartners.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT
The information contained in this news release is for informational purposes only; is not investment, financial or other advice; and is not intended to be used as the basis for making an investment decision. This news release does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for, any securities, nor shall any part of this news release form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract or investment decision in relation to any securities of Forum's REIIF. This news release does not constitute any form of commitment, recommendation, representation, or warranty on the part of any person. No reliance should be placed on the completeness of the information contained in this news release. This news release is not intended to be a comprehensive review of all matters concerning REIIF. Please visit www.forumequitypartners.com/reiif for more information.

This news release contains forward-looking information regarding REIIF and its business, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect current expectations and assumptions. Often but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "expect", "intends", "anticipated", "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected including, without limitation, risks regarding the Company's ability to bring its products to commercial production, natural health products and digital health industries, and the risks presented by the highly regulated and competitive market concerning the development, production, sale and use of the Company's products. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required under applicable securities legislation.

SOURCE Forum Equity Partners

Rajeev Viswanathan, 416-947-1994, [email protected]