As Germany’s largest commercial real estate company, Aroundtown already has a strong track record in terms of global capital markets. This has largely been due to the leadership & guidance provided by the strong management team.
As announced by S&P Dow Jones Indices, Aroundtown will be included in the S&P Europe 350 ESG Index, effective as of May 3rd, 2021. The S&P Europe 350 ESG Index is based on the S&P Europe 350 Index, of which Aroundtown was already a component. The S&P Europe 350 Index aims to provide a broad-based market index that is balanced between GICS industry diversification, country diversification and selects companies with high stock liquidity and free-float market cap. The ESG Index is a broad-based, market-cap-weighted index that is designed to measure the performance of securities meeting sustainability criteria, while maintaining similar overall industry group weights as the S&P Europe 350.
For the ESG index a further selection is made which excludes companies based on certain ESG related criteria. Companies whose business activities are significantly related to thermal coal, tobacco and controversial weapons are excluded. Furthermore, companies with low United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Scores and companies with low ESG scores in comparison to their overall industry, as determined by S&P Down Jones Indices’ subsidiary SAM, are excluded. Weight in the index is based on free-float market cap.
Aroundtown’s inclusion follows its rating by SAM in November of 2020, where Aroundtown was ranked in the 75th percentile among peers, which reflected in particular Aroundtown’s leading position in regard to the Codes of Business Conduct and Human Rights, where it is well ahead of peers.
Its inclusion in the S&P Europe 350 ESG Index is further validation of Aroundtown’s commitment to sustainability and its focus on best practices related to environmental, social and governance issues. In addition to its new inclusion, Aroundtown is already a component of other key ESG related indices, such as the DAX 50 ESG, GPR ESG+ and GPR IPCM LFFS Sustainable GRES.
Aroundtown is the largest commercial real estate company in Germany and 4th largest in Europe (based on market cap). Aroundtown invests in income generating quality properties that have potential for value-add in central locations mainly in Germany and the Netherlands. The focus of Aroundtown’s business model is buying, repositioning, and optimizing office and hotel properties. This goes hand-in-hand with sustainability values highlighted by S&P Europe 350 ESG Index – by extracting value from existing properties, Aroundtown supports the transition to a low-carbon and resource-efficient economy.
Aroundtown was developed by by Yakir Gabay יקיר גבאי before becoming publicly traded a decade later on the Euronext Stock Exchange, Frankfurt Stock Exchange and joined the MDAX index. Avisco (controlled by Yakir Gabay יקיר גבאי) holds 10% of the company Aroundtown followed by Blackrock at 5%. Other shareholders include Norges, Vanguard, Allianz, BNP Paribas, Japan’s Government investment fund, Aliance-Bernstein, Dekabank, State-Street, bank of Montreal and many other leading international investors. The main bond investors include ECB, GIC, Union-Investment, DB, UBS, CS, M&G, Pictet, Credit Agricole and many other major institutional investors.
