Landmark multi-loan funding package set to accelerate ESG outcomes across The Living Company’s retirement living portfolio, backed by major institutional partners.
Retirement Living Core Fund (RLCF), the fund behind leading operator of retirement living communities, Aveo, and now part of the recently acquired seniors living arm of The Living Company, has converted ~$2 billion of financing into Sustainability Linked Loans (SLLs) to support delivery of its environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy.
Completed in May 2026, the transaction is believed to be the largest SLL financing in the Australian retirement living sector, setting a new benchmark for sustainable finance in this asset class.
The facility was coordinated by ANZ, ING and Westpac as Joint Sustainability Coordinators, with DNV providing a Second Party Opinion.
In signing the SLLs, The Living Company will be incentivised to achieve a series of ambitious ESG targets linked to an interest-rate adjustment mechanism, reinforcing accountability and delivery against measurable sustainability outcomes.
This transaction follows The Living Company’s broader sustainable financing momentum, including the $2.8 billion Scape Core Fund SLL completed in December 2025, and the launch of a new Sustainable Financing Framework in January 2026 spanning student, rental and retirement living. Sustainable financing across The Living Company platform now totals $5.7 billion and is expected to reach $7.3 billion shortly.
RLCF’s SLLs incorporate four key ESG targets:
- Carbon emissions reduction – installation of solar panels across 30 Aveo retirement living villages Australia-wide and four battery energy storage systems by 2026. This initiative is in collaboration with village residents and results in a mutual benefit by reducing the financial impact of powering community assets through green initiatives. This will be followed by decommissioning gas infrastructure and transitioning 150 independent living units to all-electric systems by the end of 2028.
- Green Star Performance – certification of more than 80 per cent of the retirement living portfolio under Green Star Performance v2 between 2026 and 2028, representing a sector-first application of this rating system within a sustainability-linked loan.
- Biodiversity – delivery of eight projects over three years to achieve a verified “biodiversity net gain” through the restoration of native habitat, demonstrating measurable improvements in ecological conditions at selected villages.
- Mental Health Training – continued implementation of Mental Health First Aid training across the workforce, with a target of training 10 per cent of all staff and 50 per cent of managers by 2028 to better support resident wellbeing.
The Living Company’s Head of ESG, Chris Nunn, said the SLL structure reflects the growing maturity of sustainability practices within the retirement living sector.
“These SLLs embed sustainability into the core of our financial strategy, ensuring our ESG priorities are aligned with measurable outcomes and supported by strong governance and accountability.”
“As the retirement living sector evolves, initiatives like this demonstrate how operators can deliver both commercial performance and meaningful environmental and social impact,” he added.
The use of Green Star Performance v2 as a KPI represents a significant milestone for the booming sector which is set to explode as a result of our nation’s ageing population.
Green Building Council of Australia CEO Davina Rooney said, “Using Green Star Performance v2 as a financially linked sustainability target is a significant step forward for the retirement living sector. It reflects the growing maturity of ESG integration in real estate finance and sends a strong signal that sustainability performance is increasingly being embedded into core business and investment decisions. It sets an important milestone for the sector.”
Biodiversity has also emerged as a key differentiator in the transaction, with Aveo adopting a novel, science-based methodology to measure ecological improvement. Niche Environment and Heritage, which developed the biodiversity net gain assessment framework, said the approach establishes a practical precedent for the Australian real estate market.
Managing Director Ian Rollins noted, “By synthesising international best practice and local assessment methods, this framework demonstrates how biodiversity outcomes in urban and residential landscapes can be measured and verified, so the property sector can meaningfully contribute to critical nature restoration efforts in Australia.”
The Living Company echoed the sentiment, noting sustainability-linked loans offer a more impactful approach than traditional green finance structures.
“SLLs give us the opportunity to prioritise the ESG targets that matter most to our business and link them directly to financial outcomes,” said Mr Nunn.
“Embedding ESG criteria into financing transforms them from aspirational goals into core performance metrics, ensuring they receive the same focus and discipline as other key business priorities.”
Acting as an important tool to incentivise companies’ sustainability performance by linking loan margins to clearly defined KPIs, sustainability-linked financing continues to be implemented in lending markets across property, infrastructure and broader real asset sectors.
RLCF’s SLLs represent a significant step forward in aligning retirement living operations with measurable sustainability outcomes, while reinforcing The Living Company’s vision of delivering high-quality, responsible living environments across all its platforms.
For further information on TLC visit: www.thelivingcompany.com.au.
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