Henderson funds win green plaudits

UK asset manager Henderson Property has been awarded four ‘green stars’ in the latest Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) survey.

Four Henderson funds comprising more than 25% of the firm’s GBP 12.4 bn (EUR 14.4 bn) assets under management have been labelled ‘green stars’. The award assesses the sustainability performance of each fund compared to peers in the real estate industry.

The sustainability performance was measured according to key GRESB criteria including environmental management, policy, implementation, operational performance, measurement and reporting.

The four award-winning Henderson funds were the GBP 700 mln (EUR 812 mln) Central London Office Fund; the GBP 1.1 bn (EUR 1.28 bn) Retail Warehouse Fund; the GBP 1 bn (EUR 1.16 bn) European Outlet Mall Fund; and the GBP 628 mln (EUR 729 mln) Shopping Centre Fund.

Henderson head of RPI Jenny Pidgeon highlighted the business value of the award. ‘Institutional investors are increasingly seeking to assess and influence the environmental, social and governance performance of fund managers, understanding that this should reduce the impact and improve the financial risk and return profile of their investments in the long term,' she said.

More than 340 real estate funds and companies participated in this year’s survey.