Article
Business Development Bank of Canada Taps CBRE To Enhance Its Nationwide Portfolio
July 8, 2024 3 Minute Read
CBRE is working with Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) to manage the Crown corporation’s real estate portfolio, which includes more than 100 business centres nationwide serving entrepreneurs.
CBRE’s Calgary-based John Fisher says that BDC was drawn to CBRE’s global platform and the professionalism and insightfulness that he and CBRE Montreal’s Ralf Carcani brought to their analysis of BDC’s real estate requirements.
“They needed a full service, coast to coast platform covering all the time zones, and we have a depth of experience doing this kind of work” Fisher says.
“We know how to help position clients with a real estate strategy that engages Canadians where they are at,” adds Carcani. “So CBRE will be a good steward of the BDC brand.”
Lifeblood of Entrepreneurs
Fisher describes BDC as the lifeblood of Canadian entrepreneurs. “These business centres are community hubs for entrepreneurs to come to for advice, guidance, and the funds they need to move forward with their innovative ideas.”
The locations are meant to be friendly, approachable and client-facing. “They’re where entrepreneurs need them to be, and they’re well-located, accessible and well-equipped, and that’s a really big thing, for both clients and employees” Fisher says.
“They have a really great organization and where we’ll provide the most value is benchmarking what they’re doing against other best practices and helping BDC evolve and take their already great platform to the next level.”
Portfolio Management Insights
BDC’s real estate portfolio management is a complex endeavour, with 100-plus properties across Canada of varying lease-term lengths. Fisher’s team specializes in multimarket account work across Canada and the US, which makes them ideally suited to help BDC.
“Working with large clients with diverse real estate portfolios gives our team a lot of exposure to best practices, innovative ideas, and market-leading data, which manifests in ideas on how to solve problems and manage portfolios effectively,” he says.
“And our team is organized well to integrate across the CBRE platform. We boast a big bench with a variety of different tools at our disposal. That collaboration is an accelerator to the client advantage.”
Enhancing Best Practices
Carcani notes that BDC has quality intelligence on its real estate portfolio and solid best practices in place. “We’re going to apply our world class technology, reporting tools, research capabilities, and Canada-wide presence to enhance BDC’s already sophisticated practices.”
CBRE will analyze BDC’s existing real estate data points on their locations, leases and the agreements that surround their real estate, Carcani explains.
“The goal is to have the most in depth understanding of the BDC portfolio, visualize it and draw conclusions from it and then transform that into a strategy for the future to continuously improve the portfolio and to further enhance the employee and client experience in their offices.”
When it comes to positioning the BDC and Canadian entrepreneurs for success, CBRE is pulling out all the stops.
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