FORE Partnership's Basil Demeroutis on Integrating the "E" and "S" of ESG in the Built Environment, Delivering Social & Environmental Outcomes in Real Estate Investing, and Much More (#011)

SRI360 | Socially Responsible Investing, ESG, Impact Investing, Sustainable Investing

Basil Demeroutis (@Basil_FORE) is the Managing Partner of FORE Partnership, a purpose-driven real estate investment firm active in the UK and Western Europe. Basil founded FORE Partnership believing in a low carbon future in which property can be a force for social good and his mission has been to prove that driving environmental sustainability and positive social outcomes is good for investors’ financial returns. Basil is passionate about sustainable property and has aligned FORE Partnership’s investment strategy with his, and the company’s investors’ core values.
Born in Toronto, Basil studied Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University thinking that he would work for NASA or at the Jet Propulsion Lab building rovers and spacecraft. In the end, after he graduated, he changed his mind and began his career in finance at the Bankers Trust analyst training program in the United States, after feeling that engineering was too slow moving for him in terms of making an impact. After five years there, he moved to Bear Stearns and eventually moved to London.
After spending a total of eleven years in asset finance, where he was financing everything from ships and aircraft to satellites and real estate, Basil made the move from advising people on real estate investing, to actually becoming an investor in real estate and joined Jargonnant Partners in Germany, as Managing Partner. In 2008, he became a Partner at Capricorn Investment Group, the family office of Jeff Skoll, before founding FORE Partnership in 2012.
In this episode, we discuss the integration of social and environmental impact in the built environment, how Basil puts the “E” and the “S” into their real estate projects. We hear about some of FORE’s projects and examples of the real social impact they have made, and we get a true definition of social impact and what it really means. We discuss how social impact can be measured in the real estate arena and the future of biodiversity within real estate investment. Basil also discusses why he decided to forgo a typical private equity structure that pits GPs against LPs when he set up FORE’s unique ‘club’ structure, how FORE became one of the first real estate investors to become a certified B Corporation, and a whole lot more.
Show notes: https://sri360.com/podcast/basil-demeroutis
About the SRI 360° Podcast: The SRI 360° Podcast is focused exclusively on sustainable & responsible investing. In each episode, Scott Arnell interviews a world-class investor who is an accomplished practitioner from all asset classes. In my interviews, I cover everything from their early personal journeys—and what motivated and attracted them to commit their life energy to SRI—to insights on how they developed and executed their investment strategies and what challenges they face today. Each episode is a chance to go way below the surface with these impressive people and gain additional insights and useful lessons from professional investors.
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Capitoli

1. Episode introduction (00:00:00)

2. How Basil made the jump into finance after studying Aerospace Engineering (00:03:06)

3. Basil recounts his move into real estate investment in Germany, with Jargonnant Partners (00:04:00)

4. How Basil came to join Capricorn Partners and set up their London outpost (00:05:50)

5. We hear how Basil came to found the FORE Partnership (00:07:28)

6. The FORE acronym and what it stands for (00:09:56)

7. Basil describes why he became to involved in Sustainable Investment (00:10:50)

8. An overview of the FORE Partnership and their mission – the E and the S of ESG (00:12:52)

9. The company’s B Corporation certification and what this means (00:17:28)

10. We hear about the benchmarks used in FORE’s investments (00:19:35)

11. Basil describes social and environmental impact in terms of the built environment (00:20:24)

12. We hear about FORE’s mission with regards to the social aspect of their buildings (00:25:00)

13. Basil describes the Cadworks™ project in terms of the positive social impact it delivers (00:26:12)

14. The ‘Building Forward’ strategy and FORE’s vision for the future (00:29:30)

15. A real-life example of a FORE Partnership investment and how it performed (00:36:30)

16. The role of concrete and steel vs. new building materials in the future (00:41:50)

17. Basil describes the innovation in technology around new building materials (00:44:30)

18. Basil’s definition of Social Impact (00:47:30)

19. How FORE’s impact is measured and the lack of a standardized measurement of social impact (00:51:30)

20. Basil’s views on the future of biodiversity within real estate investment (00:56:07)

21. What Basil knows now about impact investing that he wishes he knew when he founded FORE Partnership (00:58:22)

22. Lessons learned from an investment that didn’t work out as planned (00:58:52)

23. Lessons learned from an investment that worked out better than planned (01:00:44)

24. Advice for anyone looking to get into the impact investing space (01:02:26)