20 November 2013: The GPT Group (GPT) has been recognised for its market-leading governance and reporting standards in the 2013 Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA) Best Practices Awards. The annual APREA Best Practices Awards recognise best practice corporate governance and disclosure standards of listed real estate companies and trusts across the Asia Pacific region.
GPT has won the APREA Best Practices Award 2013 in the Mature Markets category. The Group also achieved Merit Awards for Portfolio Performance Reporting, Corporate Governance and the best Australian Submission.
The awards are judged on how an organisation has contributed to providing greater transparency and comparability in their local market and the region, as well as the extent to which they have adopted recommendations in the APREA Best Practices Handbook in the categories of market disclosures, accounting and financial reporting, property valuation, portfolio performance reporting and corporate governance. In total, real estate companies across eight different jurisdictions lodged submissions.
This achievement builds on the Group’s result in the 2012 APREA Best Practices Awards last year. GPT received a Highly Commended Award in the Mature Market Category, as well as Merit Awards in Market Disclosure and Portfolio Performance Reporting.
Peter Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer of APREA said, “We would like to extend our congratulations to The GPT Group for winning the overall award for best practices. These awards are held annually to highlight the importance of the recommendations in APREA’s Best Practices Handbook, which has emerged as a clear benchmark for the region for managing and reporting performances since it was first published in 2009.”
About GPT Group and sustainability
GPT is consistently ranked as one of the best performing property and real estate companies in international sustainability benchmarks. GPT is the global Real Estate sector leader on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, having previously held this position in 2009 and 2010. GPT is also a regional leader as measured in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark.
See GPT’s Ratings and Awards for more information.
GPT’s properties are listed here.
Here’s a case study about GPT Group by the EPA, Victorian Government.
In 2011, GPT became the first Australian real estate company committed to the UN Global Compact further challenging the business to integrate a holistic view of sustainability into business as usual.
Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange since 1971 the GPT Group is today one of Australia’s largest diversified listed property groups. The Group has a substantial investor base, with over 45,000 investors and is one of the top 40 stocks by market capitalisation with $14.8 billion of assets under management.
The Group’s model is focused on active ownership of high quality Australian real estate in the retail, office and logistics and business park sectors. Funds Management and selective development complement this focus.
About the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association
The Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA) represents and promotes the real estate asset class in the Asia Pacific region. It is the industry body for the suppliers and users of capital in the real estate sector.
Its membership comprises real estate developers and operating companies, listed real estate trusts, unlisted property funds, investment managers, financial institutions, property securities fund managers, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors, real estate consultants, corporate advisors, stockbrokers, investment advisors and universities.
The APREA Institute, APREA’s education and training arm, provides the foundation for raising standards in the industry through the provision of practical and applied training programs. Its Certificate of Real Estate Investment Finance program (CREIF) is the only course of its kind in the region to be both developed and delivered by industry practitioners.
APREA’s achievements in education and information dissemination, and focus on improving the general real estate operating environment, have firmly entrenched it as the leading representative body for the industry in the region. In particular, its achievements in driving regulatory improvements within the listed real estate trust sector extend beyond existing markets and pave the way for the emergence of new markets in other Asian countries.
APREA membership is the gateway to a network of the industry’s most influential decision makers and provides the opportunity to influence and participate in the development of the real estate markets in Asia.