Constantin Sorlescu

Professional Standards Manager Constantin Sorlescu will be looking this year at expense metrics and how investors can better manage risk.

‘Before I was thinking about what was best for my company and its investors – now I’m thinking about what is best for the whole industry.’

Five years as a senior analyst in fund management and financial planning with Prologis has given Constantin Sorlescu a good insight into what investors and fund managers want when it comes to the financial metrics and best practices of investment.

‘I was tasked with investor reporting and performance measurement was critical.’

It is standing him in good stead in his role as Professional Standards Manager at INREV, where he is responsible for the development and implementation of the INREV Guidelines, with a special focus on vehicle reporting and NAV, fee and expense metrics, performance measurement or property valuation. He works in the professional standards department alongside Anne Boeker and Maurits Cammeraat.

A key project which Constantin is overseeing is the development of global standards for fee and expense metrics in conjunction with NCREIF, PREA and ANREV.

‘I am very focused on fee and expense metrics, and I am supported by a task force made up of leading industry bodies, investors and fund managers from Europe, the US and Asia,’ he says.

‘It’s a very exciting task, and that will continue over this year. What we need to highlight is that global standards will bring consistency and enable investors to compare across regions and have transparency.’

‘That is very important not only within real estate. If you can compare best practices and have reliable information then that enables comparison not only within real estate but between real estate and other asset classes. Investors can compare a decision to invest in real estate to investing in equities, and that helps to bring more investment to the sector.’

Constantin is also leading efforts to advance the INREV Guidelines and create global alignment on issues such as performance measurement, advancing reporting standards via the INREV Standard Data Delivery Sheet (SDDS), and expanding the focus of industry guidelines on risk management functions and risk metrics.

On this latter issue, Constantin says: ‘When you are looking at performance, you of course need to look at the risk you are taking.

This year we are looking at strengthening the performance measurement module with risk management metrics.’

‘The first step is to explore how this is done by other bodies or fund managers, because we don’t want to reinvent the wheel, and we need to make sure it is relevant. But we want to make sure we can help investors control their risk, and give them the right tools to do that.’

Members can expect Constantin to contact them regarding reporting best practices, performance and risk measurement and disclosure of fees and costs.

CONSTANTIN SORLESCU
+31 (0)20 2358616
constantin.sorlescu@inrev.org