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Annual Reports 2023
Organisation
The Netherlands
Bouwinvest
Residential Fund Office Fund Retail Fund
www.f19.nl

Assurance report of the independent auditor

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Assurance report of the independent auditor

To: the Shareholder and Supervisory Board of Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors B.V.

Our conclusion

We have reviewed the sustainability information in the Annual report of the year 2022 of Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors B.V., based in Amsterdam.  A review is aimed at obtaining a limited level of assurance.

Based on our review nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the sustainability information does not present, in all material respects, a reliable and adequate view of:

  • the policy and business operations with regard to Sustainability; and

  • the thereto related events and achievements for the year 2022

in accordance with the reporting criteria as included in the ‘Reporting criteria’ section of our report.

The sustainability information consists of performance information in the chapters; “How Bouwinvest creates value’ on pages 15-28; ‘Results of the Dutch funds and international mandates’ on pages 29-35; Appendices on pages 102-110.

Basis for our conclusion

We have performed our review of the Sustainability Information in accordance with Dutch law, including Dutch Standard 3810N ‘Assurance-opdrachten inzake maatschappelijke verslagen’ (Assurance engagements relating to sustainability reports) which is a specified Dutch Standard that is based on the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 ‘Assurance engagements other than audits or reviews of historical financial information’. This assurance engagement is aimed at obtaining limited assurance. Our responsibilities under this standard are further described in the section ‘Our responsibilities for the review of the Sustainability Information’ section of our report.

We are independent of Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors B.V. in accordance with the ‘Verordening inzake de onafhankelijkheid van accountants bij assurance-opdrachten’ (ViO, Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, a regulation with respect to independence) and other relevant independence regulations in the Netherlands. This includes that we do not perform any activities that could result in a conflict of interest with our independent assurance engagement. Furthermore we have complied with the ‘Verordening gedrags- en beroepsregels accountants’ (VGBA, Dutch Code of Ethics).

We believe that the assurance evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our conclusion.

Reporting criteria

The reporting criteria used for the preparation of the sustainability information are the Sustainability Reporting Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the applied supplemental reporting criteria as disclosed in the chapter ‘How Bouwinvest creates value’.

The sustainability information is prepared with reference to the GRI standards. The GRI standards used are listed in the GRI content Index as disclosed on page 104-106 of the Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors B.V. annual report.  

The absence of an established practice on which to draw, to evaluate and measure non-financial information allows for different, but acceptable, measurement techniques and can affect comparability between entities and over time.

Consequently, the sustainability information needs to be read and understood together with the reporting criteria used.

Materiality

Based on our professional judgement we determined materiality levels for each relevant part of the sustainability information and for the sustainability information as a whole. When evaluating our materiality levels, we have taken into account quantitative and qualitative considerations as well as the relevance of information for both stakeholders and the company.

Limitations to the scope of our examination

The sustainability information includes prospective information such as ambitions, strategy, plans, expectations and estimates. Inherent to prospective information, the actual future results are uncertain. We do not provide any assurance on the assumptions and achievability of prospective information in the sustainability information.

The references to external sources or websites in the Sustainability Information are not part of the Sustainability Information as reviewed by us. We therefore do not provide assurance on this information.  Our conclusion is not modified in respect to these matters.

Responsibilities of the Management Board for the sustainability information

The Management Board is responsible for the preparation of reliable and adequate sustainability information in accordance with the reporting criteria as included in the section ‘reporting criteria’, including the identification of stakeholders and the definition of material matters. The Management Board is also responsible for selecting and applying the reporting criteria and for determining that these reporting criteria are suitable for the legitimate information needs of stakeholders, taking into account applicable law and regulations related to reporting. The choices made by the Management Board regarding the scope of the sustainability information and the reporting policy are summarised in the chapter ‘How Bouwinvest creates value’ of the Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors B.V. annual report. 

Furthermore, the Management Board is responsible for such internal control as the it determines is necessary to enable the preparation of the sustainability information that is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. 

The Supervisory Board is responsible for overseeing the reporting process of Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors B.V.

Our responsibilities for the review of the sustainability information

Our responsibility is to plan and perform the review in a manner that allows us to obtain sufficient and appropriate evidence to provide a basis for our conclusion.

Procedures performed to obtain a limited level of assurance are aimed to determine the plausibility of information and vary in nature and timing from, and are less in extent, than for a reasonable assurance engagement. The level of assurance obtained in review is therefore substantially less than the assurance obtained in an audit.

We apply the ‘Nadere voorschriften kwaliteitssystemen’ (NVKS, regulations for quality management systems) and accordingly maintain a comprehensive system of quality control including documented policies and procedures regarding compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards and other relevant legal and regulatory requirements.

We have exercised professional judgement and have maintained professional skepticism throughout the review, in accordance with the Dutch Standard 3810N, ethical requirements and independence requirements.

Our review included among others:

  • Performing an analysis of the external environment and obtaining an understanding of relevant social themes and issues, and the characteristics of Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors B.V.

  • Evaluating the appropriateness of the reporting criteria used, their consistent application and related disclosures in the Sustainability Information. This includes the evaluation of the results of the stakeholders’ dialogue and the reasonableness of estimates made by the Management Board.

  • Obtaining through inquiries a general understanding of control environment, processes and information systems relevant to the preparation of the Sustainability Information, but not to obtain assurance evidence about their implementation or their operating effectiveness.

  • Identifying areas of the Sustainability Information with a higher risk of misleading or unbalanced information or material misstatements, whether due to fraud or error. Designing and performing further assurance procedures aimed at determining the plausibility of the Sustainability Information responsive to this risk analysis. These procedures consisted amongst others of:

    • interviewing management, KPI owners and/or other relevant staff at corporate and business level responsible for the sustainability strategy, policy and results;

    • interviewing relevant staff responsible for providing the information for, carrying out internal control procedures on, and consolidating the data in the Sustainability Information;

    • determining the nature and extent of the review procedures for KPI’s. For this, the nature, extent and/or risk profile of the KPI’s are decisive. Based thereon we selected the KPI owners or other relevant staff whom we have interviewed.

    • obtaining assurance information that the Sustainability Information reconciles with underlying records of Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors B.V.;

    • reviewing, on a limited test basis, relevant internal and external documentation; and

    • performing an analytical review of the data and trends.

  • Evaluating the consistency of the Sustainability Information with the information in the IAR which is not included in the scope of our review.

  • Evaluating the presentation, structure and content of the Sustainability Information.

  • Considering whether the Sustainability Information as a whole, including the disclosures, reflects the purpose of the reporting criteria used.

We communicated with the Management Board regarding, among other matters, the planned scope, timing and outcome of the review and significant findings that we identified during our review.

Amsterdam, March 28, 2023

Deloitte Accountants B.V.                                                                                           Initials for identification purposes:

R.J.M. Maarschalk

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