A cross-section of Canadian banks with commercial lending activities will provide an update on their underwriting practices and deployment of debt capital in 2018. While there is significant capital available, what issues do major lenders have at this time in deploying it? Discussion will then focus on the following questions among others:

• What is the state of your loan book? What criteria will you be using to issue loans? To what extent will you have increased expectations, greater stress testing and standards from 2017?
  
• How are you evaluating deals in today’s market? How is risk being priced in 2018? What is happening with loan spreads, amortization periods, loan to value ratios, and recourse financing?
  
• How is geography affecting your underwriting, e.g. how concerned are you about Alberta?
  
• What property classes are you perhaps avoiding, reducing exposure to, or increasing pricing for?
  
• How will your strategies and capabilities be affected by Basel III, the potential likelihood of Basel IV implementation and other government regulations?
  
• How concerned Canadian housing markets going to be affected?
  

Moderator:
Bill Jandrisits, President, MCAN Corporation

Panel:
Peter Block, Market Vice President, Real Estate Corporate Banking, CIBC
Ken McKinnon, Managing Director & Head, Real Estate Corporate Banking, TD Securities
John Miron, Managing Director & Head, Real Estate Corporate Banking, RBC Capital Markets
Jeff Parkes, Vice President, Commercial Real Estate, HSBC Bank Canada

Pools of real estate investment capital are growing at a significant pace and from a variety of sources. This session will provide some insights into how key decisions are increasingly being made by institutional investors and high-net worth individuals as they allocate capital to real estate funds. What is the portfolio construction methodology that they use? What target returns and fund types are preferred? What vehicle types are preferred, e.g. club deals, LPs, closed end funds? What risk management strategies do they employ? How do they benchmark fund performance?

Moderator:
Peter Cuthbert, President & CEO, Fiera Properties

Panel:
Jim Clayton, Professor of Real Estate, Schulich School of Business and former Head of Investment Strategy & Analytics at Barings Real Estate Advisers
Catherine Marshall, Investment Consultant, RealAlts
Chris Taylor, Portfolio Manager, Real Estate, Nova Scotia Pension Services Corporation
Wendy Waters, Senior Director, Research Services & Strategy, GWL Realty Advisors Inc.

SESSION A3:
DEFINING, COSTING AND MANAGING REAL ESTATE RISK: WHAT TODAY’S CREDIT MARKET NEEDS TO KNOW

Borrowers, lenders, regulators, insurers, analysts, and investors are increasingly focused on risk in a potentially declining return environment. This could include covenant risk, repayment risk, political risk, regulatory risk, environmental risk, or development risk. This session will look at risk from the perspective of three different types of borrowers: REITs, private equity and institutional owners. How is risk converted into value? Into loan underwriting terms? Into recourse? Into cost? Into price? Into liquidity? Into the investment decision? What is the risk profile of your organization? How can borrowers better identify, manage and mitigate risk? What can you do to reduce risk, and improve their finance ability and (risk adjusted) returns? What is the optimal capital structure and appropriate level of debt for a real estate entity at this time?

Moderator:
Onorio Lucchese, Managing Director, North American Real Estate, Investment & Corporate Banking, BMO Capital Markets

Panel:
Floriana Cipollone, Chief Financial Officer, Plaza Retail REIT
Jaime McKenna, Senior Vice President, Finance & Investments, Minto Capital
Qi Tang, SVP & Chief Financial Officer, RioCan REIT
Vlad Volodarski, Chief Financial Officer & CIO, Chartwell Retirement Residences

A unique face-off between a cross-section of lenders and providers of debt and equity capital. They will discuss scenarios pertaining to their entity’s capital to finance an acquisition, a development, and to meet long term debt requirements. The providers of capital will react and comment on each specific presentation. To what extent can they meet their needs? What are borrowers attracted to? What are lenders looking for in order to commit to a transaction? What will cause spreads to change? How much leverage are they prepared to assume? The last portion of the session will examine the perspective on real estate market fundamentals for 2018. Do they share similar views of risk? 

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

The Deals:
Brent Magnan, Managing Director, Toronto, Canada ICI
Peter Sweeney, Chief Financial Officer, SmartCentres REIT
Scott White, Partner, Murray & Company

The Lenders:
Michael Andrews, National Managing Director & Head of Canadian Mortgage Team, Sun Life Investment Management
Blake Cassidy, Managing Partner, Romspen Investment Corporation
Thom Henderson, Director, Commercial Mortgages, Community Trust
Alan Winer, President & Co-Founder, Harbour Mortgage Corp.

SESSION B2:
ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF CAPITAL: SMALLER BANKS, PRIVATE EQUITY, CREDIT UNIONS AND FOREIGN BANKS

Over and above the major conventional financial institutions, large pension funds and lifecos, additional players in the Canadian lending environment now include foreign banks, private equity funds, smaller banks, credit unions and other non-bank lenders. This session will examine the range of their activities in the Canadian commercial mortgage market. What is the scope of their primary market? Are they predominately focused on transactions and properties that have financing needs in the range of $20 million or less? Why is the Canadian commercial lending market gaining interest from U.S. and foreign 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 for smaller sized loans or mezzanine financing? 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? Is there any interest in underperforming assets?

Moderator:
Jeff Cox, Vice President, Murray & Company

Panel:
Kasey Chauhan, Senior Director, Origination, Equitable Bank

Jamie Dysart, Executive Director, Mortgage Investments, KingSett Capital

Michael O’Connor, Director, Real Estate Development, Meridian Credit Union

Paul Scholz, Managing Director, Credit & Risk, Institutional Mortgage Capital
Dan Simunac, Country Head, Canada, Raymond James Bank, N.A.

SESSION B3:
THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF TRANSPARENCY AND INTEGRITY IN EARNINGS GUIDANCE, QUARTERLY & ANNUAL REPORTS, MEDIA STATEMENTS

Aside from REITs and REOCs, many other real estate organizations issue public statements and documents reporting on their portfolio, fund, and asset performances; financing or investment transactions; and announcements of mergers and other activities. They may be entities which are required to issue Continuous Disclosure Documents and abide by other regulations or they may simply provide information into the public realm for strategic purposes. This session will examine the growth of reporting as the real estate market has evolved into a recognized asset class and all the transparency that is related to such a standing. Why it is critical to report appropriately anything that is material to your business will be discussed. Some terms that are more commonly used in the public domain will also be examined, e.g. what does accretion actually mean? As you seek to raise and deploy capital, why is clarity in any type of public disclosure or communique very critical to your success?

Moderator:
Louis Forbes, Chief Financial Officer, CT REIT

Panel:
Neil Downey, Managing Director, Global Equity Research, RBC Capital Markets
Catalina Miranda, Accountant, Corporate Finance, Ontario Securities Commission
Eric Moncik, Partner, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Joshua Varghese, Portfolio Manager, Signature Global Asset Management, CI Investments

An ongoing debate for years now is the extent to which sales and prices in Vancouver’s and Toronto’s housing markets have peaked and how much of a correction can we expect in 2018. Have condominium developers overextended themselves with too many projects? Are lenders at high levels of caution and risk assessment as they respond to the concerns of the federal government by significantly reducing construction lending activities? This session will try to offer some insights on these and other questions to clarify what may lie ahead for the financing of condominium and mixed-use developments for 2018 and beyond. What are lenders’ pre-sale and covenant requirements and where will they be heading in the next twelve months? How are lenders and investors pricing risk for this type of financing? What underwriting practices are they using to evaluate potential projects? What are the challenges in financing mixed-use developments vs. single asset buildings?

Moderator:
David Dinniwell, Chief Financial Officer, Graywood Developments

Panel:
Michael Carragher, Vice President, Mortgage Investments, Firm Capital

Elliot Gosselin, Vice President, Real Estate Banking, Scotiabank
Bruno Iacovetta, Managing Director, Ontario, Development Finance Group, MCAP

Richard Munroe, Managing Director, Ontario, Atrium Mortgage Investment Corporation

Given the inflow of billions of dollars looking for opportunities to access the yield and cash flow produced by property assets, commercial mortgages and real estate funds have been very popular products for institutional and retail investors. As a result, large pools of funds have been raised by private sources to provide a range of loans. Lifecos and pension funds have also expanded lending activities. They are playing an important role in today’s real estate market. This session will examine the trends, availability, and cost of this type of debt. What is their role for investors seeking exposure to real estate as well as borrowers seeking debt capital? What is the strongest market for these types of alternative products? What are the underlying strategies that the sources of capital are using with respect to risk/reward/return for the deployment of their funds? What will be their priorities for 2018 by product type and market across the country? The session will open with a brief overview of a national annual survey of the Canadian commercial mortgage market activity.

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

Panel:
Sam Brown, Vice President & Managing Director, Origination, CMLS Financial Ltd.
Paul Chin, Executive Vice-President, Real Estate Lending, Otéra Capital
Peter Dimakarakos, Senior Vice President, Head of Origination, Toronto, Trez Capital
Bradley Trotter, Global Head of Debt, Timbercreek Asset Management
Jeremy Wedgbury, Senior Vice President, Commercial Mortgages, First National Financial LP

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 2018 given the record investment sales last year? 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? How are you financing your development and investment programs going forward? Where do you predict Canadian cap rates will be by the end of 2018? Who do you anticipate will be the likely sellers? Which property classes will be most favoured? How do you find value in today’s low yield environment? How much bifurcation is there between high quality and low quality assets?

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

Panel:
Jonathan Gitlin, Senior Vice President, Investments & Residential, RioCan REIT
Rob Kumer, Chief Investment Officer, KingSett Capital
Sharm Powell, Director, Real Estate Investments, CPPIB
Stephen Robertson, Managing Director, Head of Transactions, LaSalle Investment Management

An insightful discussion with a diversified group of senior real estate executives concerning Canadian real estate fundamentals, trends, and strategies for 2018. What key challenges do they face over the next twelve months as they look for sources of well-priced capital? What are their expectations of the capital and credit markets in supporting the growth of their portfolios? What trend do they expect for the cost of debt capital? What impact will this have on cap rates and real estate values? What are you seeing in capital, financial and real estate markets outside of Canada, e.g. U.S., Europe and Asia? How much deal flow can be expected in the Canadian market in 2018? What is the appetite of institutional investors to have greater real estate exposure in their portfolios? Will changing regulations impact raising capital? How are new sources of capital (sovereign wealth funds, high net worth investors from Asia and Middle East, Chinese insurance companies) affecting the financial needs of the market? 

Moderators:
Justin Bosa, Managing Director, Head of Real Estate, Investment Banking, Scotiabank
Cecilia Williams, Executive Vice President & CFO, Allied Properties REIT

Panel:
Adam Paul, President & CEO, First Capital Realty Inc.
Stephen Taylor, Vice President, Real Estate, HOOPP
Blair Welch, Partner & Co-Founder, Slate Asset Management LP
Paul Zemla, President, Investment Management & Chief Investment Officer, Bentall Kennedy (Canada), LP