“The focus on sustainable development and a green recovery from the crisis has increased the awareness that we need more environmentally-friendly buildings. We are delighted to welcome Ghelamco to LGX this year as one of our new corporate issuers. The LGX community of issuers is not only growing in numbers, but also becoming more diverse in terms of sectors and activities, and we warmly welcome yet another environmentally-conscious real estate developer on-board,” commented Julie Becker, Deputy CEO of LuxSE and Founder of LGX.

Building green

Ghelamco is a real estate investor and developer operating in the office, residential, retail and logistics markets, and was founded in 1985. In the 35 years since its creation, Ghelamco has expanded its operations on the international scene and is now mainly active in Belgium, Poland, France and the UK. A pioneer in the development of green office projects, Ghelamco has achieved the respected eco-label BREEAM and high ratings for many of its buildings, especially in the Belgian and Polish markets. The Group also cooperates actively with the Green Building Programme established by the European Commission, which seeks to improve awareness of energy efficiency and renewable energies in non-residential buildings.

“The Covid crisis will accelerate further demand for sustainable, new, healthy and flexible office space. The well-being of the employees is the key success in the office market. Ghelamco has acted as a game-changer in sustainable buildings over the past decades and uses the proceeds from these Green Bonds only for BREEAM “excellent” or “outstanding” buildings as one of our key differentiators,” explained Paul Gheysens, CEO and Founder of Ghelamco.

This is the second Green Bond issued by the real estate developer to finance sustainable and energy efficient real estate projects. Ghelamco’s move is testament to the increased focus on Green in the real estate sector.

Facilitating green investments

LuxSE established LGX in 2016 to promote sustainable finance and help reorienting capital flows into sustainable development projects. What started as a platform for Green Bonds has expanded to include Social and Sustainability Bonds as well as SRI funds, and is the world’s leading platform for sustainable securities. As of June 2020, LGX counts more than 760 sustainable securities representing a total value of EUR 280 billion.