Website: bgo.com
Head office address (Canada): 1 York Street, Suite 1100, Toronto, ON M5J 0B6
Year established: 1911
Ownership structure: wholly owned by Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSX: SLF / NYSE: SLF) through SLC Management as of March 2026
Target market/client profile: pension plans, endowments, and institutional investors seeking real estate investment, lending, and management services
Number of professional staff: more than 920 in Canada; over 1,400 employees globally
Canadian office locations: Toronto (head office), Edmonton, Calgary, Mississauga, Ottawa, Vancouver, Montréal, Winnipeg
BentallGreenOak (BGO) is a global real estate investment management firm based in Toronto. The company is part of SLC Management, the institutional asset management arm of Sun Life Financial. It manages about US$89.5 billion in assets for more than 750 institutional clients as of March 31, 2026.
BentallGreenOak’s story in Canada traces back to 1911, when the Bentall family started a construction firm in Vancouver. The company shifted from real estate development to investment management over the following decades.
That shift eventually gave rise to Bentall Kennedy, an investment manager for pension funds and institutional clients.
The other half of BGO’s origin story began with two senior real estate executives at Morgan Stanley. Sonny Kalsi had served as global co-head of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing until his departure in 2009.
He and John Carrafiell, another Morgan Stanley real estate veteran, co-founded GreenOak Real Estate in 2010 to build an independent investment platform. GreenOak grew to US$12 billion in assets across 10 countries through organic growth.
Sun Life Financial was building SLC Management as its institutional asset management arm and needed a dedicated real estate platform. GreenOak and Bentall Kennedy merged on July 1, 2019 to form BentallGreenOak as SLC Management’s real estate arm.
Sun Life completed its acquisition of a majority stake in BentallGreenOak the following day, on July 2, 2019. The combined firm brought equity investing, real estate lending, and property management together under one platform.
The company has grown its Canadian real estate holdings steadily since its formation in 2019. BGO’s Prime Canadian Property Strategy added Rockwood Plaza, a grocery-anchored retail property in Mississauga, in 2025.
The firm then acquired 95 Wellington Street West in Toronto’s Financial Core in May 2026, a 23-storey Class A office tower. It says both moves target stable, income-producing assets for its institutional clients over the long term.
BentallGreenOak runs three core service lines for institutional real estate clients:
The firm’s investment strategies span North America, Europe, and Asia across multiple risk profiles:
The company’s lending arm provides commercial mortgage financing for institutional real estate clients. The service covers markets across NA, Europe, and Asia.
BGO Properties handles property management and leasing for institutional property owners across Canada:
BGO Strategic Capital Partners (SCP) has raised about $6.3 billion across 46 programs since its 2002 founding, per the company. BGO Properties manages 440+ properties and 66 million+ sq. ft across Canada as of March 31, 2026.
Christina Iacoucci became head of Canada in 2024 and serves as BGO’s managing partner. She chairs the Canadian Value Add Investment Committee and previously served as SVP at Bentall Kennedy. Iacoucci held a senior managing director role at Sun Life Financial before joining the firm.
BGO’s Canadian platform, led by Iacoucci, also includes:
The company’s global team, alongside co-CEOs Kalsi and Carrafiell, includes:
The firm operates under the oversight of SLC Management and Sun Life Financial. Sun Life trades on the TSX and NYSE as SLF and provides public financial reporting that covers the BGO platform.
The company works exclusively with institutional clients on real estate across office, industrial, multi-residential, retail, and hospitality property types. BGO serves this client base through primary markets, secondaries, and co-investment structures globally.
Its eight Canadian offices cover every major market from coast to coast. The company says the Canadian strategy centres on income-producing assets in well-connected urban locations.
BGO also appears in the Benefits and Pensions Monitor (BPM) Alternatives Directory and SRI/ESG Directory with full contact details.
BGO has been recognized across sustainability, real estate investment, and industry leadership. The firm is also part of several industry and ESG groups.
BGO submits annual ESG and sustainability data to GRESB and PRI. The firm has been part of real estate sustainability efforts since 2008.
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