QuadReal Property Group

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) is a crown corporation established to provide investment services to British Columbia’s public sector. On June 1, 2016, it announced it will create QuadReal, a subsidiary that will manage CA$18 billion in real estate assets. This was done to align with its peers who also had their own real estate investment arms. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec had Ivanhoé Cambridge, OMERS had Oxford Properties and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan had Cadillac Fairview. However these were all acquired and then integrated while QuadReal was to be an entire new entity set up. Prior to QuadReal, BCI's real estate assets were managed by Bentall Kennedy, GWL Realty Advisors and Realstar which were subsequently transferred to QuadReal in February 2017. In additional staff who managed the assets at Bentall Kennedy were moved to QuadReal.[1][2][3][4]

In May 2017, QuadReal named its first CEO, Dennis Lopez who was previously the global chief investment officer of AXA Investment Managers.[5] Around this time, QuadReal had 87% of investments in Canada and aimed to have more investments internationally to diversify its holdings.[4][6]

In March 2018, QuadReal announced it would be opening an office in London and would be expanding its operations to Europe. At the time most of its investments were in the Americas but the plan was to reduce it to 50% while 25% would be allocated to Europe and Asia each to be more balanced.[7]

In 2021, it was reported that QuadReal in less than five years since its launch, had become the third-largest real estate owner in Canada, surpassing CPP Investment Board and Cadillac Fairview. It took advantage during the COVID-19 pandemic where it bought it listed hotel platforms at steep discounts, stepped in as an equity partner for groups during a difficult fundraising environment and invested in alternative properties such as data centers and life science facilities. As a result, the company had significant growth where by the end of 2020, its holdings had grown 41% year-on year. Originally with CA$18 billion, its assets at this time increased to CA$58.4 billion. This was despite market and property levels dropping to their lowest volume in seven years. In addition its performance surpassed the benchmark on both a one- and five-year basis.[8]

In May 2023, due to rising tensions between Canada and China, BCI paused all further investments in China. QuadReal which in the last few years had significantly invested in China was affected by the change.[9]

• Official website