Sun Life Financial Services has taken whole ownership of Miami Beach-based BGO for $1.2 billion.
The acquisition is the first step in Sun Life’s plan to merge BGO with Bell Partners, a Greensboro, North Carolina-based real estate investment firm with $10 billion in assets under management, the South Florida Business Journal reported. That includes its portfolio of more than 70,000 apartments.
Sun Life is buying a 100 percent ownership stake in Bell for $350 million, citing the nationwide housing crisis and market growth in the multifamily sector, according to a news release.
That brings Sun Life’s spend on the merger to at least $1.6 billion.
The Toronto-based financial services firm, led by president and CEO Kevin Strain, had owned a 56 percent majority stake in BGO since it was formed in 2019 through a merger of Sun Life’s Bentall Kennedy and the real estate investment firm GreenOak. The $1.2 billion price is for the remaining 44 percent stake.
BGO is a sprawling real estate investment operation with $90.4 billion in assets under management, 1,400 employees and offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia. It is led by co-CEOs Sonny Kalsi and John Carrafiell, who co-founded BGO’s predecessor GreenOak Real Estate.
In 2024, the firm dropped $60 million on a cold storage facility in Medley. In October, BGO handed back the keys to a New York City office tower at 757 Third Avenue through a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.
Bell was founded in 1976 by Steve Bell, whose son Jon Bell leads the firm as chairman. The Bell acquisition is expected to close in the second half of this year, the release shows.
Sun Life also announced it is purchasing the remaining 49 percent stake in its Crescent Capital Group for $608 million. The alternative investment manager is based in Los Angeles and led by Mark Attanasio and Jean-Marc Chapus.
–– Kate Hinsche