Cyril Boisnier: The financialisation of commercial property in the age of sustainable development: a new approach for property companies in France?

This thesis analyses how the financialisation of real estate, as exemplified by Listed Real Estate Investment Companies (SIICs), on the one hand, and sustainable development, on the other, point to the social construction of new frameworks. The question is whether or not they are compatible with one another, and what compromises and convergence of interests their tension gives rise to. The aim of this work is also to examine how they interact in the shaping of the city. The study of each of these concepts is not yet established, and part of the thesis work has consisted of clarifying what defines their use.

Indeed, we approach the subject of our research through the lens of management sciences, drawing in particular on theories of financial value creation and corporate governance, and through the analysis of valuation and reporting tools. Here, sustainable development is viewed more as a market for ‘standards’ that guarantee a building’s environmental quality. We hypothesise that property companies are compelled by public policy on sustainable development to adopt various strategies: to anticipate it, comply with it, circumvent it, or reinterpret it.

Sustainable development can thus also be understood in terms of new rules of the game, values and personal beliefs. This thesis demonstrates that corporate risk management and strategic opportunism are part of the interplay between the financialisation of commercial property and the implementation of measures influenced by the concept of sustainable urban development. New forms of intervention, regulation and social compromise have emerged.