Épopée Gestion, a regional investment company co-founded by Charles Cabillic and Ronan Le Moal, has announced the SRI certification of its Épopée Immo Rendement I real estate fund. The award of the SRI label marks a new stage in Épopée Gestion’s socially responsible strategy and its commitment to enhancing the attractiveness of local communities. For the fund’s investors, the SRI label is a further guarantee of transparency and quality in the measurement of the impact and extra-financial performance of the assets invested.
The SRI Label is awarded to real estate investment funds, enabling investors to identify and select vehicles that reconcile financial performance with the integration of social and environmental issues.
Épopée Gestion aims to reinvest sustainably in local areas, in the belief that the development of local economies will help build a better society based on quality of life and the sustainability of ecosystems. Épopée Gestion’s approach contributes to the transformation of French regions by rebalancing decision-making centers towards the local, or even multi-local, level, through an urgent deconcentration on ecological, economic and social levels. Épopée Gestion’s commitment is detailed in its ESG Charter, which can be consulted on its website.
The Épopée Immo Rendement I real estate fund invests in office, retail, warehouse and commercial real estate with the aim of revitalizing the region and supporting jobs in French Atlantic Arc.
To measure the extra-financial performance of real estate assets under management, Épopée Gestion has developed an ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) rating grid based on a range of criteria that summarizes the various ESG characteristics of an asset. The grid thus established makes it possible to determine minimum acceptable ratings and performance improvement trajectories over time for each of the assets held, according to the “Best In Progress” approach.
The originality and conviction of Épopée Gestion’s ESG approach are reflected in the maximum weighting of the Social pillar, which accounts for 50% of the ESG rating of the assets in the portfolio, and in the integration of the “Territorial impact and employment” issue (20% of the overall ESG rating of the assets). In comparison, according to the Observatoire de l’Immobilier Durable, SRI-labelled real estate vehicles give an average weighting of 33% to the social pillar. The “Territorial impact and employment” theme is the least used of the 19 ESG themes. The environmental and governance pillars account for 30% and 20% respectively of the fund’s overall ESG rating.
Épopée Gestion takes a balanced, regional view of its extra-financial strategy, proposing social, environmental (in particular lower energy consumption) and governance objectives. Thus, main objective of the Social pillar is to contribute to the economic dynamism of local areas building real estate infrastructures that create jobs in areas in need of revitalization, while promoting the development of the local economy.
The Environmental pillar aims to optimize energy consumption and reduce the impact on biodiversity.
Épopée Gestion has also joined the Observatoire de l’Immobilier Durable (Sustainable Real Estate Observatory) to support this vision and participate in real estate industry discussions on ESG issues.
SRI Label certification was obtained on December 19, 2022. This label is complemented by significant financial commitments on the part of Épopée Gestion, notably the allocation to its endowment fund of a percentage of the vehicle’s outperformance fees based on the fund’s achievement of extra-financial objectives. The endowment fund, Épopée Villae, aims to finance and support local projects in rural areas.
Arnaud Lehuédé, Real Estate Partner at Épopée Gestion, comments: “The SRI label is a fantastic tool for putting into practice our resolutely innovative ESG analysis. Convinced of the need to reinvest in the regions, we have set ourselves apart by fully integrating social issues into our extra-financial strategy, in particular the positive territorial impact trough job creation. Part of the Management Company’s remuneration to the Épopée Villae endowment fund completes the virtuous ecosystem we aim to build by contributing to the financing of local projects in rural areas”.