A cross-section of major Canadian commercial lenders will provide an update on their underwriting practices and deployment of debt capital in 2019. What issues are major lenders beginning to face at this time? What are their strategies for this year? Questions they will address include:

• What criteria are your teams using to issue loans? To what extent have you increased your expectations, greater stress testing, and underwriting practices from 2018?
• How is geography affecting your strategies, e.g. are you concerned about Alberta?
• How will the practices of banks, insurance companies and pension funds vary?
• How are lenders evaluating deals in today’s market? How is risk being priced in 2019? What is happening with loan spreads, amortization periods, loan to value ratios, and recourse financing?
• What property classes are you perhaps avoiding, reducing exposure to, or increasing pricing for?
• Will Basel III have a major impact on banks and their competitiveness as mortgage lenders?
  

Moderator:
Michael Waters, Chief Executive Officer, Minto Apartment REIT & The Minto Group

Panel:
Peter Block, Market Vice President & Head, Real Estate Corporate Banking, CIBC
Phil Gillin, Senior Managing Director, Sun Life Investment Management
Rod Hunt, Managing Director, Real Estate Lending, Business Financing Products, Royal Bank of Canada
Roy Lall, Senior Director & Team Head, Real Estate Lending, Otéra Capital
Ken McKinnon, Managing Director & Head, Real Estate Corporate Banking, TD Securities

As we enter the latter innings of this bull run on real estate, do macro fundamentals still matter or is it now all about the micro characteristics of a particular deal? An insightful discussion with a cross section of providers and borrowers of capital as it pertains to underwriting particular property types, different geographic markets, and the importance of asset management strategies. Are all industrial and multi-residential opportunities good, and all retail ones bad? What about underwriting development activity? Are Toronto and Vancouver priced to perfection while Montreal has much more upside? Under what criteria does Calgary or Edmonton office make sense? Do lenders and borrowers share similar views on the risks and opportunities, and how they should be priced?

Moderator:
Colin Johnston, President, Research Valuation & Advisory, Altus Group

Panel:
Sarah Esler, Portfolio Manager, Mortgage Investments, Alberta Investment Management Corp.
Paul Miron, Senior Counsel, Product Director, Commercial Solutions, FCT
Paul Scholz, Managing Director, Credit & Risk, Institutional Mortgage Capital
Peter Sweeney, Chief Financial Officer, SmartCentres REIT
Vlad Volodarski, Chief Financial Officer & CIO, Chartwell Retirement Residences

SESSION A3:
THE GROWTH OF REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT FUNDS AND THEIR INCREASING ROLE IN DEBT & EQUITY FINANCING

Given the billions of dollars seeking access to the yield and cash flow produced by property assets, real estate funds have been very popular products for institutional and retail investors. As a result, there is a growing proliferation of investment management funds and the key roles they play in real estate debt and equity financing. What is the DNA of these funds? How do you attract investors and broaden your client base? What rates of return are your investors requiring? Are we in a new reality of lower returns for the long term? Are investors focused on core and core plus, or are some prepared to move up the risk ladder? How do your clients feel about development? Are you able to attract foreign capital for domestic Canadian investments? Have regulatory parameters affected changes in how capital is raised and deployed in real estate market?

Moderator:
Richard Brownscombe, President & CEO, Montrose Winnipeg

Panel:
Ishbel Buchan, Senior Vice President, Investments, ACM Advisors
Pierre Leonard, Former Managing Partner, Romspen Investment Corporation
Sandy Poklar, COO & Managing Director, Capital Markets & Strategic Developments, Firm Capital Corporation
Greg Vorwaller, President, Trez Capital

This panel will examine the trends and issues related to raising debt, credit and capital from the perspectives of REITs and private equity funds. How are they managing their balance sheets in this very competitive and rising interest rate environment? Among the questions that will be addressed:

• Can you as easily access the capital that you require in today’s market as you could a year ago?
• How much debt are you carrying, when does it roll over, and how will you likely refinance? Is your goal to lock-in for the longest possible term?
• What key sources of capital are you tapping? Who has the lowest cost of capital now? 
• What are your perspectives on secured and unsecured debt? Will unsecured debt continue to grow in 2019? How will it affect conventional commercial mortgage lending?
• Do you have any challenges with how underwriting is being done today and how lenders are trying to transfer risk? Do you sense that these are transitional measures or more structural?
• What about new acquisitions and development? How are they being financed in 2019?
• What is the right capital structure and appropriate level of debt for a real estate corporation?
  

Moderator:
Heather Kirk, EVP & Chief Financial Officer, Cominar REIT

Panel:
Lesley Gibson, SVP & Chief Financial Officer, CT REIT
Nitin Jain, Chief Financial Officer & CIO, Sienna Seniors Living
Anna Kennedy, COO & Chief Financial Officer, KingSett Capital
Qi Tang, SVP & Chief Financial Officer, RioCan REIT

SESSION B2:
SMALLER BANKS, PRIVATE EQUITY, CREDIT UNIONS AND FOREIGN BANKS: MEETING THE DEMAND FROM SMALLER LOANS, TIER TWO ASSETS TO LARGER PORTFOLIOS AND PROPERTIES  

Aside from major financial institutions, pension funds and lifecos, key roles in the Canadian lending environment are being assumed by foreign banks, private equity funds, smaller banks and credit unions among others. This session will examine their activities in the commercial mortgage market. What are their primary markets? Are they predominately focused on transactions and properties that have financing needs in the range of $20M or less? Why is Canada gaining interest from U.S. banks again? What are the loan origination and underwriting strategies of these lenders, e.g. preferably to whom, in which markets, and for what property classes? How is risk being priced? What are your spreads, amortization periods, LTV ratios, and recourse? What is the market for B and C class properties that could be out of favour with major lenders? 

Moderator:
Jeff Cox, Vice President, Murray & Company Limited

Panel:
Vince Faustini, Regional Vice President, Commercial Mortgage Origination, Equitable Bank
Jim Gardiner, Regional Vice President, Commercial Services, Meridian
Blair McCreadie, Executive Vice President & CORE Fund Manager, Fiera Properties
Jim Ward, Senior Vice President, Wells Fargo Bank N.A. – Canada

SESSION B3:
FINANCING CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT IN TODAY’S MARKET: IS IT BECOMING INCREASINGLY
MORE DIFFICULT?

An ongoing debate for years now is whether the Vancouver and Toronto housing markets have peaked and how much of a correction can we expect. To what degree have condominium developers overextended themselves with too many projects in any Canadian markets? As a lender, how high is your level of caution and risk assessment in construction lending activities? How does did vary from city to city and among specific asset classes? This session will offer some insights on these and other questions on what may lie ahead for the financing of condominium, mixed-use and other developments for 2019. What are lenders’ pre-sale or pre-leasing and covenant requirements and where will they be heading in the next twelve months? How are lenders pricing risk for this type of financing? What underwriting practices are they using to evaluate projects? What are the challenges in financing mixed-use developments vs. single asset buildings?

Moderator:
Dale Noseworthy, Chief Financial Officer, Killam Apartment REIT

Panel:
Leonard Damiani, Senior Director & Team Head, Real Estate Lending, Otéra Capital
Rob Harvey, Regional Vice President, Real Estate Financing, Laurentian Bank of Canada
David McCrossan, Director, Investment Management, Development Finance Team, MCAP
Noah Mintz, Managing Director & Principal, Vector Financial Services

Technological innovation is changing the world at unprecedented speed and the real estate market and industry are not exempt. Blockchain distributed ledger and cryptocurrency technologies are revolutionizing equity fundraising, financial services, and a variety of commercial transactions and operations. Artificial intelligence and its close relative machine learning are beginning to be used in all aspects of real estate including financing and investing. Concurrent developments in Fintech are creating other important considerations, involving cutting-edge technologies, information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructures and novel business models. This session will provide some valuable insights on all these important emerging trends.

Moderator:
Amy Erixon, Principal, Managing Director, Investments, Avison Young

Panel:
Hugh McKee, Vice President, Head, BMO Partners, BMO Financial Group
Matthew Spoke, Founder, Aion
Dariush Zomorrodi, Chief Innovation Officer, Blanc Labs

Lending practices of major banks have been affected by the plethora of policies issued by OFSI, Basel III’s regulatory framework, CMHC mortgage insurance changes and BOC monetary policies. The session will open with a brief overview of a national annual survey of Canadian commercial mortgage market activity. It will show how secondary sources of capital are playing an increasingly important role in commercial real estate financing today. This session will examine the trends, availability, and cost of debt from these alternative sources. How are they able to compete successfully vs. major banks? Why is there a growth in A/B/C type structures and syndications? Why are deal sizes much larger? What are their loan origination and underwriting strategies, e.g. preferably to whom, in which markets, and for what property classes? How is risk being priced? How often and under what circumstances do they offer mezzanine and equity financing?

Moderator:
Doug Milne, Managing Partner, Canada ICI Capital Corporation

Panel:
Sam Brown, Vice President & Managing Director, CMLS Financial
Scott Coates, Group Head, Mortgage Investments, KingSett Capital
Jeremy Wedgbury, Senior Vice President, Commercial Mortgages, First National Financial LP
Alan Winer, Co-Founder & CEO, The Harbour Group

An insightful discussion about investment activity in today’s very competitive market environment. The panel will address a range of questions including: What will likely be the major challenges in order to buy or sell assets in the Canadian market during 2019? What are the differences between the issues faced by a REIT vs. a pension fund vs. a private equity fund in selling or acquiring properties at this time? Which gateway cities or mid-markets are most attractive for investment? How are you financing your investment programs going forward? Where do you predict Canadian cap rates be by the end of 2019 relative to today’s prices? Who do you anticipate will be the likely sellers? Which property classes will be most favoured? Will shifting bond yields and rising interest rates affect your strategies and, if so, in what way?

Moderator:
Peter Senst, President, Canadian Capital Markets, CBRE Limited

Panel:
Robert Armstrong, Managing Director, Slate Asset Management L.P.
Duncan Osborne, Executive Vice President, Investments, The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited
Jordan Robins, Executive Vice President & COO, First Capital Realty
Greg Sweeney, Managing Director & Head of Canadian Real Estate Investments, Manulife Real Estate

An insightful discussion with a diversified group of senior real estate executives on their perspective for Canadian and global real estate fundamentals, trends, and strategies for 2019. How will Canada perform relative to the U.S., Europe and other markets? What will be key challenges facing real estate executives over the next twelve months? What are their expectations of the capital and credit markets in supporting their portfolio growth? What trend do they expect for Canadian interest rates, bond yields and the cost of capital? What impact will this have on cap rates and real estate values? Which cities are attracting their attention due to employment growth? What are they seeing in capital, financial and real estate markets outside of Canada? To what extent are assets now fully priced in major Canada markets or are they still attractive to investors? Is investing outside of the country is more attractive than staying at home? How much importance are they placing on ESG issues, particularly with the growth of TFCD and other environmental related policies?

Moderators:
Kay Brekken, Executive Vice President & CFO, First Capital Realty
Amber Choudhry, Managing Director, Debt Capital Markets, CIBC Capital Markets

Panel:
David Arthur, Managing Partner, Brookfield Property Group
Jane Gavan, President & CEO, Dream Global REIT
Kevan Gorrie, President & CEO, Granite REIT
Kevin Leon, President, Crestpoint Real Estate Investments Ltd.
Paul Zemla, President, Investment Management & CIO, Bentall Kennedy (Canada) LP