Passionate CEO leads Canadian real estate success story

This article was produced in partnership with BPM.

“It’s hard to believe,” says Jason Roque, as he reflects on Equiton’s culture and rapid growth, “but I kind of look forward to Mondays.” On closer inspection, it’s not hard to see why the private equity real estate firm’s CEO and founder enjoys his work. In January 2015, he was one of three people in a shared office mapping out the company’s vision and getting regulatory approvals in place. Now in only its eighth year, those seeds have blossomed into over 180 employees country-wide and $1 billion in assets under management.

The early days

Before Equiton, as a private real estate investor and developer, Roque was always struck by how interested people were in what he did, nudging him for information on ways they could create wealth through private real estate.

Through his years of experience in the industry, he saw how private real estate

investments were making institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals wealthier, while the average Canadian did not have access. Roque, therefore, founded the company with the vision of making high-quality, institutional-grade private real estate investments accessible to all Canadians. and he achieved this by developing investment solutions open to all investor classes.

Industry-leading offerings

Spearheading its growth story has been Equiton’s flagship Apartment Fund, launched in 2016, which specializes in multi-residential properties and targets eight to 12 percent annual net return. The firm’s Income and Development Fund has been another big driver, offering investors access to institutional-grade real estate and development projects while targeting 12 to 16 percent annual net return. Roque says the firm is now getting heavily involved in real estate development, a space in which the founders have considerable experience. Equiton offers exclusive access to its two Toronto developments – Vicinity Condos and Sandstones Condo. Vicinity Condos will introduce approximately 150 residential units to the market, while Sandstones Condo will add more than 300 residential units. In addition, the Riverain District development project in Ottawa aims to construct over 1,000 multi-residential rental units, giving a much-needed boost to the housing supply.

Core ESG principles

Knitting the strategy together is Roque’s commitment to building a greener and more sustainable future while meeting the evolving needs of investors and residents. The firm submitted its first Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) assessment in June 2023, an industry-leading global assessor of the ESG performance of real estate assets and their managers. This submission will help Equiton identify material issues affecting key stakeholders. While active management maximizes value for investors, creating vibrant communities is central to Roque’s vision of sustainability, and Equiton works diligently to ensure its properties enable residents to thrive.

The foundation of the growth story

This comfort and knowledge of the space underpins the firm’s success and has proved attractive to advisors. “We’ve kind of been born and bred into the real estate space,” Roque explains. Equiton is a 100 percent Canadian operation – “Canadians investing in Canada” – while it also prides itself on a high standard of governance. The due diligence process is extensive, and Roque and his team analyze 20 to 25 properties before selecting one to buy, while they also make a point of underwriting conservatively. “We strive to operate, for want of a better term, like a public company – but at the same time, we’re very entrepreneurial,” he says. “We try to have the best of both worlds.”

To this end, Equiton puts a high value on transparency. Its Funds are overseen by a majority independent board, ensuring a high level of governance. To deliver accurate and fair property valuations, it depends on third-party appraisers to conduct quarterly appraisals. Fund performance reports are posted prominently on its website.

Early emphasis on culture

One aspect of the company Roque and co-founder and CFO Helen Hurlbut knew they had to get right from the start was culture. Employees have to be high performers, but they also have to leave their egos at the door. Collaboration is valued highly; it’s about the company’s success rather than individual accolades. Roque recognizes that turning around a bad company culture is laborious, and it is important to identify and hire the right people from the beginning. “It really does drive what the company is and how the company performs, so we spend a lot of time on it here at Equiton,” he says. “Not only cultivating that culture within the team, but also making sure that the people we bring on board are going to fit in with that culture.” A strong collaborative culture means the company not only executes to a high level but is always poised to take advantage of market conditions. The supply-demand housing imbalance is well documented, but it’s a narrative Roque saw coming long before the mainstream media latched on. It will take more housing, and likely decades, to address the problem, he says. As an investment proposition focused primarily on the rental and for-sale housing market, Equiton is well positioned, but it also wants to be part of the solution in terms of helping to solve the crisis. For advisors looking to bolster their portfolios, Roque believes the strategy is compelling.

Looking to the future

“In addition to the strong tailwinds in the space we're invested in, which I think are going to help drive returns for advisors and their clients for a long time, is the fact that we're offering private market solutions,” he explains. “Being in that alternative space means we’re able to give them things they're not going to get from the public markets, whether that be uncorrelated returns or helping to reduce volatility. For a lot of advisors, to retain and attract clients, you have to offer them more than [the typical] stock-bond split because there are varying asset classes that can bolster returns while mitigating volatility. We’re offering advisors a practical solution to help solve those concerns.” While confident in the strategy, Roque is keen to stress that the company’s quest to be better-known in the marketplace is ongoing, as are its advisor education efforts. Making sure Equiton’s reputation keeps pace with this

growth is paramount, however, and the CEO knows it must continue to differentiate itself through quality execution and conservative governance. The heartbeat of this is the culture he has carefully fostered, and Roque admits that’s the one thing he can’t afford to lose. “We focus on hiring down-to-earth, team-oriented people,” he says. “We want people to be rewarded for performing, but at the same time, we win as a team. “We pride ourselves on being conservative but at the same time entrepreneurial. We want to be able to take advantage of opportunities and react quickly when things change.” Zero to $1 billion AUM in less than nine years, with an investment landscape unfurling as predicted – no wonder Roque can’t wait for the weekend to end.