AEON REIT Investment : Notice Concerning Acquisition of “5 Stars” Rating in GRESB Real Estate Assessment

(Note) This document has been translated from the Japanese original for reference purposes only. In the event of any discrepancy between this translated document and the Japanese original, the original shall prevail.

October 15, 2021

For Immediate Release

Investment Corporation:

AEON REIT Investment Corporation

1-2-1, Kanda Nishiki-cho,Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Representative:	Nobuaki Seki, Executive Director
	(Securities code: 3292)
Asset Manager:
AEON Reit Management Co., Ltd.
Representative:	Nobuaki Seki, Representative Director and President
Inquiries:	Tomohiro Itosaka, Managing Director in charge of
	Finance and Administration

(TEL. [phone])

Notice Concerning Acquisition of "5 Stars" Rating in GRESB Real Estate Assessment

AEON REIT Investment Corporation (the "Investment Corporation") hereby announces that it has received "Five Stars" in GRESB Rating, which is based on GRESB Overall Score and its quintile position relative to global participants. The Investment Corporation also won a "Green Star" designation for the sixth consecutive year by achieving high performance both in "Management Component" that evaluates policies and organizational structure for ESG promotion, and "Performance Component" that assesses environmental performance and tenant engagement of properties owned.

1. GRESB Real Estate Sector Evaluation:

GRESB is an annual benchmarking assessment to measure ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) integration of real estate companies and funds, as well as the name of organization which runs the assessment. It was founded in 2009 by a group of major European pension funds who played leading roles in launching Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). Currently, 140 Investor Members (with more than $47 trillion in assets under management) use GRESB data for their investment decision-making and engagement with investees, and several institutions from Japan including Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) utilize GRESB Assessment results. In 2021, 1,520 listed or private real estate companies/funds participated in GRESB Real Estate Assessment.

The Association for Real Estate Securitization (ARES), Japan Sustainable Building Consortium (JSBC) and Japan Real Estate Institute (JREI) have cooperated to promote it as official supporters of GRESB in Japan.

Please refer to the GRESB's website for more details (https://gresb.com/nl-en/).

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2. Evaluation Result:

The Investment Corporation has received "Five Stars" in "GRESB Rating" by relative evaluation of total scores.

The Investment Corporation has also received "Green Star" rating for the six consecutive years since it is highly evaluated in both areas "Management & Policy" and "Implementation & Measurement" with regards to activities for environmental consideration and sustainability.

3. Future Measures:

The AEON Group has adopted the AEON Sustainability Principle, a policy for the entire group aiming to achieve further progress in the development of the sustainable society. Based on this principle, the AEON Group is pursuing a course of sustainable management while addressing its priority agenda, including the "realization of a zero-carbon society," "conservation of biodiversity," and "promotion of resource recycling" for the environment. The agenda also includes social issues to be addressed such as the "development of products and stores that are capable of meeting people's expectations in society," "embedding respect for human rights across business operations," and "collaborations with local communities."

In recent years, moreover, the need to consider ESG has begun to earn widespread recognition in the asset management industry. This reflects the idea, based on factors such as stricter environmental regulations and changing awareness of tenants and customers, that consideration for ESG is imperative to sustain and enhance property value over the medium to long term.

With its basic philosophy of "contributing to the enrichment of people's lives and local communities through investment in retail and related properties," the Investment Corporation aims to ensure stable income over the medium to long term by investing in "assets that form the backbone of local communities and their lifestyle infrastructure."

AEON Reit Management Co., Ltd., Asset Manager, to which the Investment Corporation entrusts the management of its assets, adopted a "Sustainability Policy" on January 14, 2016 and aims to consider ESG in all aspects of work cooperating with the AEON Group. It will work with stakeholders to facilitate this in order to realize these philosophies and goals.

*The Investment Corporation's website:https://www.aeon-jreit.co.jp/en/index.html

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