Dive Brief:
- Sun Life Financial is buying Bell Partners for $350 million and combining the Greensboro, North Carolina-based multifamily investment and operating firm with global real estate investment manager BGO, according to a press release. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026.
- Bell Partners will retain its brand and continue to operate as a distinct business under BGO, in addition to overseeing the broader company’s U.S. multifamily assets. The firm’s existing management team will remain in place.
- In addition to the Bell purchase, Sun Life announced that it completed both the acquisition of the remaining equity interests in BGO, which it formed in 2019, and Crescent Capital Group, its global alternative credit investment manager, according to a separate news release. BGO serves the interests of more than 750 institutional clients with approximately $90 billion of assets under management.
Dive Insight:
Bell Partners was established by Steven Bell in 1976. Over the decades that followed, the founder built the firm from a sleepy Southern owner into a major multifamily institutional player. It achieved a major milestone in 2008, when it combined with DRA Advisors to acquire 25,684 units from REIT UDR.
As Steven Bell and his son Jon Bell grew the firm, they added REIT-level talent to their management team, including several hires from AvalonBay Communities. One of those arrivals, Lili Dunn, was elevated to CEO and president in 2022, becoming the first non-Bell to hold the role.
Now, Bell, which manages approximately 70,000 apartment homes in 12 regions across the U.S., will combine with BGO to form a powerhouse with more than $100 billion of assets under management.
“This opportunity will extend Bell’s operating and investment expertise across a larger residential platform and strengthen our depth and reach,” Dunn said in the news release. “It is a natural step in our evolution, preserving the essence of what has made us successful, while also opening new opportunities for the future.”
According to SunLife, the multifamily market will provide “tremendous opportunity” for targeted growth, according to its press release.
"The acquisition of Bell Partners broadens BGO's strategic benefits and gives us vertically integrated property management capabilities, positioning our company as one of the leading U.S. multifamily investment managers,” Sonny Kalsi, president and CEO of SLC Management, said in the firm’s release.
In the release, Amy Price, co-president of BGO, said the partnership with Bell reflected the firm’s “strong conviction in the U.S. multifamily market” among other things.
“Bell Partners has built an exceptional platform with a proven 50-year track record in multifamily that complements our firm’s culture and expertise in U.S. commercial and logistics sectors, supported by our global resources,” Price said.
PJT Partners served as exclusive financial advisor to Sun Life and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison LLP were legal counsel for the Bell transaction. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as an exclusive financial advisor, and Hogan Lovells acted as legal counsel for Bell Partners.
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