Our History
The Bentall Capital teams of today benefit from over 90 years of
history as a builder and developer and 40 years of specific experience in
property management and leasing.
The evolution of Bentall Capital can be traced back to 1911,
when Charles Bentall joined Dominion Construction. Under his management and
ownership, the company designed and constructed commercial real estate to serve
some of Vancouver's foremost pioneers.
Through most of the last century, the organization evolved as a
developer and manager, spreading out from its Vancouver base to other regions
of Canada and, in the mid 1980s, into the United States.
In 1988, Bentall Corporation was formed to hold the ownership of
the major revenue-producing properties. The years that followed saw the company
further expand its base of operations in both Canada and the US. In 1997,
Bentall was transformed into a public company and, in the same year,
significant expansion occurred with the acquisition of Penreal Capital, now
Bentall Investment Management — our real estate investment management business.
This same year saw the purchase of major downtown and suburban holdings in the
Seattle area, and the acquisition of Pioneer Equities which was subsequently
re-branded as Bentall Retail Services.
Bentall continued to grow consistently each year as a public
company through to March of 2001. At that time, all of the outstanding shares
of the company were acquired by SITQ Vancouver Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary
of the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, a major Canadian pension fund,
turning Bentall back into a private company.
The re-privatization of Bentall was coincident with the
formation of Bentall Capital Limited Partnership and its operating
subsidiaries. Bentall Capital took on all of the fee contracts, staff and
systems of Bentall and Penreal Capital to conduct the businesses of real estate
investment management and real estate services.
In 2002, Bentall acquired the assets of Beutel Goodman Real
Estate Group, bringing assets under management to over 42 million square feet
with a value of $6 billion.
In 2004, we took over Sun Life Financial's
property management and leasing business in Canada, adding a further 13 million
square feet of office, industrial, and retail properties to our managed
portfolio. At the same time, we opened up a new office in Montreal, acquiring
the staff and managed properties of Services Immobiliers Valor Inc. These
transactions added significantly to overall assets managed, bringing them to
close to $9 billion.
In 2006, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC), a long-standing client of Bentall's, acquired a one-third interest in the company. Bentall is now jointly owned by bcIMC, SITQ and Bentall's management partners. Each of these entities holds a one-third interest in the company.
Bentall Capital, which now manages over $15 billion in assets, brings a new perspective to its business as a fully integrated real estate service company, but continues a tradition of excellence borne of 90 years of successful operation by its predecessors.
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