Eric Plesman
Louis Voizard
Conference Co-Chairs:
Eric Plesman, Senior Vice President, Investments, Oxford Properties Group Inc.
Louis Voizard, Senior Vice President, Growth Markets, Ivanhoé Cambridge
An overview of how real estate has performed based upon risk adjusted returns in major global markets over the past year. How are the risk/return scores shifting? In which markets? Has cap rate compression gone too far? What have been the “best in class” properties over this period of time? Which markets have hit “bottom” in the past twelve months and are entering a phase of the cycle offering high quality investment opportunities? Which markets have performed above the norm? The presentation will include a risk adjusted ranking of over 25 major western markets around the world surveyed in the IPD Global Annual Property Index. North America and EMEA each comprise 42% of the weighted total, with the remaining 16% in Asia Pacific.
Speaker:
Simon Fairchild, Executive Director, IPD Canada
An examination of the most significant trends in property markets around the world during the past year.
Numerous indications are the interest in real estate globally is on a significant rise. How far is this likely to continue given the wide range of economic and political conditions in various countries and regions? On the one hand, there are dire predictions of challenging times remaining and possibly increasing again in the EuroZone. But at the same time, the London market is possibly at the hottest in the world. The U.S. economy in the meantime appears to outperforming most people’s expectations. And then there is the political drama in Hong Kong and the overall prognosis for the economy in China along with a sluggish economy in Brazil. What does this mean with respect to investor interest in growing and emerging markets? What are the major issues and challenges facing investors, owners, and private and public equity decision-making in a global context in 2015? Where is the pricing of assets heading in international markets? Since investment is driven by fundamentals, which markets are likely to attract the greatest investor interest?
Speaker:
Simon Fairchild, Executive Director, IPD Canada
Given the challenges faced by other asset classes, real estate has outperformed many by offering investors steady and favourable yields. Cash flows offer safety. Hard assets have been attractive due to the volatility in the capital markets. Since 2010, large volumes of capital have flowed into the property markets. What is happening now with allocations to real estate among institutional investors, portfolio managers and private equity funds as they look forward to 2015? Are we likely to see a pause in property investment or a pullback or will we actual witness a continued growth? Where are investors finding reasonable risk adjusted returns that are drawing their attention?
Eric Plesman
Robert Byron
John Carrafiell
Scott Girard
Bil Hughes
Moderator:
Eric Plesman, Senior Vice President, Investments, Oxford Properties Group Inc.
Panel:
Robert Byron, Managing Principal, Blue Vista Capital
John Carrafiell, Co-Founder, GreenOak Real Estate
Scott Girard, Chief Executive Officer & CIO, M&G Real Estate Asia
Bill Hughes, Chief Executive Officer, Legal & General Property
This session will provide an update on the U.S. market. With the surge in employment, housing starts, inflation and GDP growth, where is the market now in the cycle? What range of investment opportunities still exist, eg. core vs. secondary markets? Are some funds who invested in the U.S. in the past two to three years still are coming out as that market is becoming very expensive? Who are the most prevalent buyers and sellers at this time? Where at cap rates at this time and where are they heading? What are the speed bumps to watch for? Is the multi-unit residential property class outperforming all others? Given the growth in overall consumer confidence, how is the retail market now doing? What will happen to the real estate asset class if the U.S. economy continues to expand and grow in 2015?
Chuck Burd
John Bottomley
Jamie Fink
Gary Linhart
Susan Wallace
Moderator:
Chuck Burd, Chief Investment Officer, Bentall Kennedy U.S.
Panel:
John Bottomley, Partner, Berkshire Group
Jaime Fink, Senior Managing Director, HFF
Gary Linhart, Managing Director, ViaWest Group
Susan Wallace, Executive Managing Director, Global Investors Group, USAA Real Estate Company
A very focused session on the world’s hottest property markets from an investment, development and leasing perspective. Why is there so investor interest so strong in this city? What has enabled London’s property market to withstand many of the impacts of European economic issues and other trends? How are the leasing markets performing? Where are cap rates at this time and where are they heading? Are office rents hardening? What are the challenges faced by development projects? Which property classes are enjoying the greatest returns? What potentially lies ahead for London in 2015?
Andrew Thomas
Edmund Craston
Chris Carter Keall
Shawn Lese
Dion Panambalana
Moderator:
Andrew Thomas, Head of West End Investment, London Markets, Cushman & Wakefield
Panel:
Edmund Craston, Managing Director, Rockspring Property Investment Managers LLP
Chris Carter Keall, Vice President, Head of Leasing & Asset Management, Oxford Properties Group Inc.
Shawn Lese, Managing Director, Grosvenor Fund Management
Dion Panambalana, Partner, Hogan Lovells International LLP
An insightful presentation focusing on the evolution over ten years of research and analysis on the positioning of 300 global cities within an international framework. Where are the commercial real estate markets with the best opportunities? How much do you know about the 30 cities that represent 50% of the total value of global real estate? Discussion will also include the performance of prime office space in 95 major markets, nearly 60% of which recorded rental uplifts over the past year with Dublin again topping the global ranking with exceptional annual growth; the 20 most dynamic global cities driven by talented workforce, pro-business policies and buoyant real estate markets; and an analysis of which of 102 markets made the greatest progress in the transparency of commercial real estate. The top improvers generally correlate with a surge in foreign direct investment. The session will end with commentary on how rapid urbanization is impacting global real estate and creating new opportunities for investors and developers.
Speaker:
Rosemary Feenan, International Director, Global Research Programme, JLL
A wide ranging session that will examine all facets of Europe and the very diverse economies and property markets across this continent. To what extent is there an imbalance across the different European submarkets: Western vs. Central vs. Southern vs. Eastern? How do you compare tier one countries vs. emerging markets? Do Germany, France, Italy and Spain represent the majority of investor interest in mainland Europe? Which cities are attracting the greatest attention? Which markets have bottomed out? How much volatility are these markets still experiencing as a result of the increasing EuroZone economic and financial issues? Is there still an outflow of capital, a lot of distress and a challenge for developers to raise equity? In the debt markets, are German banks starting to come back in?
Tom Boytinck
Stéphane Amine
Evan Z. Lazar
Martin O’Reilly
Matthias Thomas
Moderator:
Tom Boytinck, Managing Director, Allegro Securities LLC
Panel:
Stéphane Amine, Chairman, Inovalis REIT
Evan Z. Lazar, Co-Chairman, Global Real Estate, Dentons LLP
Martin O’Reilly, Executive Manager, Property Fund Management, Irish Life Investment Managers
Matthias Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, INREV
While Brazil has attracted the greatest amount of investment interest in the past ten years, this market for many is now deemed a challenge. Priced to perfection in some investors’ minds, the country’s economic performance is also facing some major issues. Is there some correction beginning to occur given the volatility in its currency and how expensive it is hedge? How strongly are investors now moving into other emerging markets across Latin America? Are Columbia and Peru now like Brazil was five years ago? Or are other countries offering better opportunities? What kind of returns are Latin American markets offering? To what extent are fundamentals in some of the markets much better than most investors think they are? How much interest is Mexico receiving? How far has this market moved on the risk/reward scale? Do you need to focus on hard assets if you are going to enter Mexico?
Jay Marling
Anthony DiBiase
Dietrich Heidtmann
Phill Runions
Moderator & Speaker:
Jay Marling, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Principal, Capright
Panel:
Anthony DiBiase, Principal, CA International
Dietrich Heidtmann, Managing Director – Head of International Capital Markets, GTIS Partners
Phil Runions, President & CEO, Barnhart Asset Management
With tremendous competition at home and a desire to expand their real estate portfolios, Canadian investors, large and small, are looking increasingly at foreign markets. Some initially tip-toed across the border into the United States, while others were more adventurous and begun to invest in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Investors going abroad face a myriad of challenges – political and economic risks, legal and tax issues, currency risk, cultural differences, professional standards and the lack of transparency, just to name a few. Why have Canadian investors been increasingly successful in moving into cross-border markets? Where are they looking? Why? Where is this trend likely to head in 2015?
Brad Olsen
Peter Ballon
Paul Dalla Lana
Eric Santoire
Brady Welch
Moderator:
Brad Olsen, President, Atlantic Partners
Panel:
Peter Ballon, Vice President & Head of Real Estate Investments – Americas, CPPIB
Paul Dalla Lana, Founder & President, Northwest Value Partners
Eric Santoire, Vice-President, Investments, Growth Markets, Ivanhoé Cambridge
Brady Welch, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Slate Asset Management LP and Chief Financial Officer, Slate Retail REIT
This session will specifically focus on the retail property class on a global basis including the United States, Europe, Latin America, and other emerging markets. Where’s the real growth: geographical markets vs. expanding retail sectors? Many major mall owners are repositioning their portfolios on regionally dominant mega malls: why and where does that leave the rest? The outlet sector was the darling of the global economic downturn: will that sector continue to grow at the same pace as economies recover? How will online sales impact on retail real estate? Which retail lines will be more greatly affected than others? Some discussion will also focus on the emergence of super prime high street pitches and global luxury retail tourism.
Michael Rodda
David Henry
Karl Kreppner
João Lelis
Joanne Sonin
Moderator & Speaker:
Michael Rodda, Head, EMEA Retail Investment, Cushman & Wakefield LLP
Panel:
David Henry, Chief Executive Officer & Vice Chairman, Kimco Realty Corporation
Karl Kreppner, Senior Vice President, Investments, The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited
João Lelis, Head, Asset Manager – International, Sonae Sierra
Joanne Sonin, Executive Vice President, Head of Corporate Development, Gazit Group USA
Rarely does an investor move forward and deploy capital without the benefit of some good quality research and strategic information that helps facilitate the decision to act. Quite often the sources of this data and analysis are strategists who have a strong focus on specific markets, property classes, and regions. This roundtable will feature three senior researchers who will offer their insights on medium-term strategic opportunities, trends and risks in various global real estate markets. Discussion will focus the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific regions among others and include commentary on investment opportunities, emerging issues, market fundamentals and the medium term views of the strategists.
Chris Blanchard
Steven Cochrane
David Green-Morgan
David Hutchings
Moderator:
Chris Blanchard, Portfolio Manager, Global Real Estate Securities, Presima Inc.
Panel:
Steven Cochrane, Managing Director, Economic Research, Moody’s Analytics
David Green-Morgan, Global Capital Markets Research Director, JLL
David Hutchings, Head of EMEA Investment Strategy, Cushman & Wakefield
An insightful closing roundtable discussion on how investors see the year ahead. How should you play the global markets in 2015? What strategies make the most sense? Where is the greatest potential for growth? The rise in importance of the city state has resulted in a focus being placed on 75 major cities rather than 5 to 6 countries. What would be the top ten cities/states on most investor’s list? Where are you likely to find stronger returns? What are contrarians doing? How are you mitigating risk in the current market environment? To what extent has investor philosophy changed? Are investors creating risk by placing too much pressure on “safe” markets? Has the flight of capital towards quality assets been overplayed? Will development continue to be viewed as a preferred growth strategy by many entrepreneurs? What are the challenges that an investor faces in undertaking new projects in foreign markets?
Louis Voizard
Russell Chaplin
James Mulvihill
Jonathan Hull
Joanne Sonin
Moderator:
Louis Voizard, Senior Vice President, Emerging Markets, Ivanhoé Cambridge
Panel:
Russell Chaplin, Chief Investment Officer, Aberdeen Asset Management
James Mulvihill, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Black Creek Group
Jonathan Hull, Managing Director, EMEA Capital Markets, CBRE Global
Erwin Stouthamer, Chief Executive Officer & Principal, Composition Capital Partners
Jointly held with the attendees to The Real Estate Forum. Canadian Room. Fairmont Royal York Hotel.