Canadian investment giant Sun Life Financial is making a $2B bet on global real estate.
The Toronto-based financial services firm, which manages some $1.6T in assets, announced three acquisitions. It is spending $1.2B to buy the remaining 44% of shares it doesn’t already own in BGO, a global real estate investment firm formerly known as BentallGreenOak; another $608M to buy out the remaining shares of global alternative credit investment manager Crescent Capital Group; and $350M to buy Bell Partners, a U.S. apartment owner with 70,000 units.
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Shares in Sun Life, an insurance giant founded in 1865, were trading flat early Tuesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange following the announcement, which came after markets closed Monday.
Sun Life formed BGO in 2019 through a merger of Bentall Kennedy, its real estate investment business, with GreenOak in a $146M deal that left it with a 56% stake in the newly formed company. It acquired a 51% stake in Crescent for $338M in January 2021.
The two buyouts were jointly announced, and Sun Life also said it would buy Bell Partners in a transaction that will be at least 75% stock. The deal is expected to close in the second half of the year.
BGO and Crescent generated roughly $3B combined in fee-related revenue for Sun Life between 2021 and 2025. The acquisitions were funded through debt issuances in 2025, and Sun Life expects to take a $170M charge and $61M reduction in equity in the first quarter to close the deals.
The deals bolster SLC Management, the asset management arm of Sun Life.
“We're entering the next phase of SLC growth with opportunities to unlock our platform through cross platform synergies, wealth management opportunities, innovative solutions and partnerships,” Steve Peacher, executive chair of SLC Management, said in a statement. “This work reinforces our medium-term targets for SLC of 15% growth rate for third-party AUM, 35% fee-related margin and 20% growth rate for fee related earnings.”
BGO and Bell Partners will combine business operations following the acquisitions, but Bell will continue to operate independently and be led by current management. Bell’s assets are spread across the U.S., and the firm has 1,800 staff in nine offices, including its North Carolina headquarters.
BGO has roughly $90B in assets under management in 12 countries across core asset classes.
M&A activity picked up in 2025 and is expected to accelerate across 2026 as the largest firms look to leverage their scale to pick up assets and companies at perceived discounts.
In February alone, centuries-old Japanese logging conglomerate Sumitomo Forestry Co. struck a $4.5B deal to buy Tri Pointe Homes, and investment firm Kennedy Wilson reached a deal with a consortium that included Canadian insurer Fairfax Financial Holdings to go private at a $1.6B valuation.
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