Ivanhoé Cambridge renews its support for the Ivanhoé Cambridge Real Estate Chair at ESG UQAM

MONTREAL, Nov. 7, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - Ivanhoé Cambridge and Université du Québec à Montréal's École des sciences de la gestion (ESG UQAM) today announced the renewal of their agreement to fund the Ivanhoé Cambridge Real Estate Chair at ESG UQAM. As such, Ivanhoé Cambridge is renewing a 17-year partnership that has helped make Montreal a world-renowned hub for real estate industry research and knowledge.

"The Ivanhoé Cambridge Real Estate Chair at ESG UQAM is among the most advanced research centres anywhere in the world devoted to the real estate sector," said Denis Perreault, Vice President, Investments, Eastern North America, Ivanhoé Cambridge, and a graduate of the UQAM Executive MBA in Real Estate program. "Extending this valuable partnership paves the way for the achievement of new objectives in teaching and training the next generation of real estate managers."

Ivanhoé Cambridge and ESG UQAM created the Real Estate Chair in 1995 with the objective of establishing a unique teaching and research niche in Quebec, the rest of Canada and in the world's French-speaking countries. The Chair has several accomplishments to its credit, including establishment of the university's certificate and MBA program for real estate executives. It has developed a local and international network of professors, researchers and industry practitioners involved in conducting research and educational projects in real estate. Events organized by the Chair have attracted more than 6,300 participants over the years and over $164,000 in scholarships were awarded through the Chair.

The new $450,000 three-year agreement brings to more than $2.3 million the total contributions made by Ivanhoé Cambridge for the advancement of leading-edge real-estate research and knowledge in Montreal.

"In the past 17 years, the perfecting of new tools and methods in management, evaluation and financing of real estate projects has accelerated tremendously, bringing with it new practices for companies in the strategic management of their real estate operations and helping to develop the real estate financial asset class," explained Chairholder Andrée De Serres. "This extended agreement will see new research projects and symposiums established, throughout its life cycle, for the study of business models, financial performances and risk management of innovative real estate projects, with particular attention paid to climate change as well as environmental, demographic, social and urban changes."

A significant aspect of the Chair's activities involves training human resources at the leading edge of knowledge in residential, industrial and commercial real estate, including the office building and shopping mall sectors. Significant resources will continue to be devoted to this end in the years to come.

"We need to prepare the next generation by relying on new distance-learning programs specializing in real estate financing and investment, risk management and sustainable development," explained Josée Dubuc, Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Corporate Services, Ivanhoé Cambridge. "These will be the core aspects of our actions to attract and retain new talent in this constantly evolving industry."

About the Ivanhoé Cambridge Real Estate Chair at ESG UQAM

The Ivanhoé Cambridge Real Estate Chair at ESG UQAM provides a forum for international exchange among researchers, students, academics and field practitioners, co-operating and pooling their rich experience to share their findings, individual career experiences an investigations in the real estate domain. The two-pronged mission of the Chair is to develop strategic tools and to promote the development of real estate knowledge at the highest level. To find out more, visit ivanhoecambridge.uqam.ca/.

About Ivanhoé Cambridge

Ivanhoé Cambridge is one of the world's 10 largest real estate companies. As at December 31, 2011, its assets totalled more than Cdn$30B and could be found in over 20 countries around the world. Ivanhoé Cambridge is a real estate subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (lacaisse.com), one of Canada's leading institutional fund managers. For more information, visit ivanhoecambridge.com.

SOURCE: IVANHOE CAMBRIDGE