AG Real Estate (former Fortis Real Estate) is a wholly owned subsidiary of AG Insurance (

Ageas Ageas is a Belgian multinational insurance company co-headquartered in Brussels. Ageas is Belgium's largest insurer and operates in 14 countries worldwide. The company was renamed from Fortis Holding in April 2010 and consists of those insurance ...

) and the largest real estate group in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, headquartered in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. AG Real Estate has a portfolio under management of over €6 billion that incorporates

office buildings An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

s, logistics properties, residential properties and shares in real estate investment funds, both listed and unlisted. Its core activities include

real estate development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parcels ...

asset management Asset management is a systematic approach to the governance and realization of value from the things that a group or entity is responsible for, over their whole life cycles. It may apply both to tangible assets (physical objects such as buildings ...

property management Property management is the operation, control, maintenance, and oversight of real estate and physical property. This can include residential, commercial, and land real estate. Management indicates the need for real estate to be cared for and monit ...

, real estate financing and public car park management. AG Real Estate is a parent company of Interparking, one of Europe's best known premier car parking facility operators. AG Real Estate is one of the principal shareholders of the Sicafis (

fixed capital In accounting, fixed capital is any kind of real, physical asset that is used repeatedly in the production of a product. In economics, fixed capital is a type of capital good that as a real, physical asset is used as a means of production which i ...

real estate investment trusts A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...

)

Befimmo Since 1995, Befimmo has been pursuing a policy of investing in buildings in locations and letting them to tenants. Over time, Befimmo has specialised in particular in investing in office buildings mainly located in city centres, notably in Brusse ...

, a former

BEL20 The BEL 20 is the benchmark stock market index of Euronext Brussels. It tracks the performance of 20 most capitalized and liquid stocks traded in Belgium. In general, the index consists of a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 companies traded ...

-company, and Ascencio. The multinational has approximately 2,600 employees in over ten countries.

History

To diversify its holdings and support its actuarial reserves Fortis has continuously invested in real estate. Since its creation in 1824 these investments have always been managed by a department specialised in real estate. In 2000, AG ("Assurances Générales") changed its name to become Fortis AG. The Fortis AG real estate team was reinforced by bringing together all of its in-house real estate skills. A new entity was constituted: Fortis Real Estate. On 12 July 2002, Fortis Real Estate acquired the Bernheim-Comofi group, active in the fields of Public Car Park Management (through an 85% stake in Interparking), Asset Management, Real Estate Development, and Property Management. In May 2006, Fortis Real Estate and Groupe Mestdagh joined forces to create Ascencio, a

REIT A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping ce ...

specialised in commercial real estate in city outskirts in Belgium and France. On 1 July 2006, Fortis AG and Fortis Banque Assurances merged to form Fortis Insurance Belgium, the parent company of Fortis Real Estate. After the demise and dismantlement of the Fortis group, Fortis Insurance Belgium changed its name to AG Insurance as of 22 June 2009. On 21 September 2010, Fortis Real Estate followed suit to become AG Real Estate.

Activities

Development

View over the Botanical Garden in Brussels

The group has completed developments of more than 2 million m² of office, residential and retail space in Europe. Several high-rise buildings in the Northern Quarter, the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

, were developed by AG Real Estate. The Northern Quarter is characterized by high-rise buildings, most around 100 meters tall, including The Botanic Tower, AG Real Estates' former headquarters building. Over half of the twenty

tallest buildings in Belgium These are lists of the tallest structures in Belgium, sorted by type. Tallest skyscrapers The vast majority of Belgium's skyscrapers are located in multi-municipal entity of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, which includes the City of Brus ...

are located in the Northern Quarter. Their activities are focused on different areas:

Urban Renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

Sustainable communities The term "sustainable communities" has various definitions, but in essence refers to communities planned, built, or modified to promote sustainable living. Sustainable communities tend to focus on environmental and economic sustainability, urban in ...

, Turnkey Projects and Public-Private Partnerships. Since 2008, AG Real Estate is involved in several PPP projects, including a leading role in the fast-track :nl:Scholen van Morgen (Schools of Tomorrow) initiative. ‘Schools of Tomorrow’ is a public-private partnership (PPP) in charge of the design, build and finance of 182 school infrastructure projects (comprising 250 buildings) in the

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

, the Northern Region of Belgium. With construction of most projects scheduled for completion by the end of 2016, the program also includes the maintenance of all constructions and technical installations during the first 30 years of use, after which the ownership is transferred to the individual schools at no cost. The 1.5 billion EUR program encompasses 710,000 m² total gross building area, mostly new build and some

renovation Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, ...

, and an additional 600,000 m² of

landscaping Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following: # Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal o ...

. AG Real Estate France develops a 113,000 m2 logistics platform for

Castorama Castorama () is a French retailer of DIY and home improvement tools and supplies, headquartered in Templemars, France, and is part of the British group Kingfisher plc, which has 101 stores in France and 90 in Poland. The company became a subsidia ...

on a site in

Saint-Martin-de-Crau Saint-Martin-de-Crau (; Provençal: ''Sant Martin de Crau'') is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France. Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Martinois''. Population Saint-Martin-de-Crau has the lowest population density o ...

. It will be the largest logistics platform ever built in France on a turnkey lease basis. In September 2013, AG Real Estate France started the development of an office building in

Montrouge Montrouge () is a commune in the southern Parisian suburbs, located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe. After a long period of decline, the population has increased again in recent years. ...

, in the

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a Departments of France, département in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, Northern France. It covers Paris's western inner Banlieue, suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the e ...

district west of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, which is scheduled for completion at the end of 2015.

Investment & Property Management

AG Real Estate's portfolio contains direct and indirect real estate holdings, primarily but not exclusively in Europe, as well as investments across all asset classes. The company is the originator of around ten real estate certificates with a total value of €500 million and two real estate investment funds ( REITs) with fixed capital,

and Ascensio.

is a Sicafi specialising in investing in office buildings located mainly in city centres, notably in Brussels. Its portfolio currently consists of around a hundred office buildings, with a total area of around 850,000 m². The fair value of its portfolio amounts to €2.04 billion as at 30 June 2013. Befimmo's

market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by t ...

equals about 944 million euros. Ascensio is also a Sicafi specialising in investing in commercial properties. Its portfolio contains around 100 sites and is valued at €260 million. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Devimo Consult, AG Real Estate offers proactive operational management for shopping centres besides the day-to-day management of its own assets. Devimo Consult is a multi-disciplinary company that specializes in the professional management, running and development counselling of shopping centers and retail parks. In June 2009, AG Real Estate acquired 50% of Trade Mart Brussels, a permanent business-to-business center for Fashion and Interior professionals. In April 2013, AG Real Estate has bought a 20% stake in the French retail centre group Frey, listed at

Euronext Paris Euronext Paris is France's securities market, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, which merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Brussels exchanges in September 2000 to form Euronext NV. As of 2022, the 795 companies listed had a combined marke ...

Real Estate Financing

AG Real Estate is active both as an equity investor as well as a debt investor across the entire risk spectrum. The company provides financing solutions for mature real estate holdings as well as development projects. The assets it finances are primarily office buildings and retail space located in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...

. AG Real Estate especially focuses on providing long-term financing solutions, particularly during the operational phase of its projects, in the form of public-private partnerships (PPP). In 2011, AG Real Estate and its parent company AG Insurance provided a $117,5 million

mezzanine loan In finance, mezzanine capital is any subordinated debt or preferred equity instrument that represents a claim on a company's assets which is senior only to that of the common shares. Mezzanine financings can be structured either as debt (typicall ...

in connection with the $210 million acquisition of 70 Pine Street, the fifth tallest building in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, by Eastbridge Group (originally co-founded by the late Ronny Bruckner, a former member of the Board of Directors of

). In April 2013, the company acquired a stake of 33% of Downtown Holding (DTH), a company which is focused exclusively on multifamily residential property conversion projects in the Financial Districts in the Manhattan borough of

. Downtown Holding currently works on development of a former AIG Building, a

Downtown Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

landmark.

Public Car Park Management (by Interparking)

AG Real Estate provides under the Interparking brand also Public Car Park Management. Interparking's portfolio includes car parks in city centres, airports, train stations, hospitals, commercial and business centres, and tourist attractions. With more than 290,000 parking spaces in 350 cities across 9 different countries, Interparking is one of Europe's most successful car parking facility operators, serving 85 million customers a year with a staff of nearly 2,100. Through its subsidiaries of the Contipark Group, Interparking is now number one on the German market.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.agrealestate.eu/en/Pages/default.aspx Real estate companies of Belgium Shopping center management firms Companies established in 1824 1824 establishments in the Netherlands Companies based in Brussels