Nareit and the New York Stock Exchange hosted the sixth-annual REIT Investor Relations Symposium on June 6. More than 120 REIT investor relations professionals attended the symposium, held at the NYSE the day before Nareit’s REITweek: 2022 Investor Conference began.
During the first session, The Rise of ESG Investing: Telling Your Company’s Story, Sherry Rexroad, CFO at STORE Capital (NYSE: STOR), moderated the conversation between Glenn Rufrano, chairman at ICSC; Mary Fedewa, CEO at STORE Capital; and Leah Rozin, director and head of research at Rivel Governance and Sustainability.
Rozin began by sharing insights from Rivel’s 2021 Investor Survey, noting that 7 out of 10 respondents said they’re incorporating ESG risk into their investment decisions.
Panelists agreed that ESG is an evolution, and the most important thing is to get started in tracking metrics. Looking to peer ESG or CSR reports for inspiration can be a helpful way to begin the process, but it’s more important to start by developing basic fact sheets than waiting to develop a larger ESG report. “ESG is common sense. If you understand your constituencies, you understand ESG,” added Rufrano.
Fedewa reflected on how far STORE Capital has come in its ESG journey, having recently released its 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report (PDF) which includes reporting on approximate Scope 3 emissions for the first time.
Doug Yones, head of ETFs at the NYSE, moderated the second session, The Role of ETFs in REIT Investing. In his opening comments, he noted that “over a third of the trading volume here at the New York Stock Exchange is now ETFs.”
Panelists included Chris Burbach, co-founder, partner and CEO at Fundamental Income; Bruce Saltzman, managing director at State Street Global Advisors; and Chris Johnson, head of global equity trading and capital markets at Charles Schwab.
During the session, panelists discussed the evolution of ETF products and shared insights into the methodology used in building their products.
The symposium concluded with a reception to kick off the busy week of meetings during Nareit’s REITweek: 2022 Investor Conference.