IPD IREI REALTIME Global Property Investment Conference - New York, NY

IPD IREI REALTIME Global Property Investment Conference
16-18 November 2009: Crowne Plaza Hotel, New York City

REALTIME will explore the new investment landscape that is emerging as the ice thaws after the credit crunch. Speakers will identify promising areas and sectors for investment, and the conference will also examine the range of research techniques, knowledge bases, portfolio design and methodologies of financial and risk analysis available to investment strategists.

On Firmer Foundations…
The convictions upon which the international real estate marketplace was founded now seem far less convincing. None of the previous certainties can be taken for granted. Dramatically changed economic prospects, new regulations, valuation uncertainty and that credit crunch have changed the geography (and the math) of global property investment, perhaps for ever. The moment must be seized to build new approaches to investment based upon the distinctive contribution of real estate assets to investment portfolios and their fundamental capacity to generate long term income streams. Financial sophistication must not obscure the real basis of returns.

Major themes
• Globalization of real estate and the role of cross-border investment
• Regional marketplaces performance and the impact of the economic crisis
• Constructing the portfolio: which sectors, quadrants, instruments?
• Market information, performance measurement and the significance of valuation
• Proprietary research as a source of competitive advantage
• Strategy: What are the options now? What will work? For whom

To register please click here or go to: www.irei.com/realtime.html


Conference Programme: REALTIME Day 1: Tuesday 17 November

8.00am: Conference registration and welcome refreshments

Session One: Charting the global marketplace
In recent years, increased transparency has transformed national real estate marketplaces, and encouraged and enabled high levels of cross-border investment. But on the global scale it remains very difficult to gather and interpret market information, as evidenced by some of the surprising places in which the recent pain has been most felt. The session will offer a survey of global property information and a view of its likely evolution, followed by a portrait of the today’s marketplace on the basis of the currently available data. The final speaker will explore how the balance of economic power will have shifted when the markets are more active.

• Welcome and introduction to conference
Geoff Dohrmann, Institutional Real Estate, Inc (Joint conference chair)
• Global property market information
Rupert Nabarro, IPD (Joint conference chair)
Dan Doctoroff, Bloomberg, LP
• Who’s globalizing now?
Robert White, Real Capital Analytics
• Who’s globalizing next?
Christian Menegatti, RGE Monitor

Session Two: Investment performance, globally
Which markets around the globe have been hardest hit by the economic crisis? What are the characteristics that distinguish these markets, and that made them more vulnerable than others. And which areas in the world were least impacted by the global financial market meltdown, and why? Can this help us understand which markets are most likely to recover earlier or more strongly that than others? The first three speakers will make these comparisons in each of the major investment regions, whilst the final speaker will encompass the entire globe, emerging markets included.

• Europe
Pierre Vaquier, AXA REIM
• Asia
Peter Hobbs, RREEF
• The Americas
Ray Torto, CBRE Torto Wheaton Research
• Planet property
Jay Mantz, Morgan Stanley

1.30pm: Working Lunch - The view from New York
An informal conversation over lunch between respected New Yorkers professionals (and representatives of conference Associates ULI, RICS and AI) to give a New York flavor to the proceedings. How do the big global issues filter down to their day jobs in New York? Will New York have a greater or lesser role in global real estate when the dust settles?

Merrie Frankel, Moody’s
Ruth Agnese, Appraisers and Planners
Thomas Justin, Weitzman Group


Session Three: Quadrants and quants
Why was it so easy for the adoption of investment and lending instruments that concealed true levels of underlying risk to bring about the economic crisis? Which areas of investment are now best able to offer an acceptable balance of risk, return and transparency to institutional investors? And which instruments are most effective in providing suitable access to distant marketplaces? How should appropriate levels of liquidity be set and maintained across the portfolio, and at what price?

• When property met finance
Marc Louargand, Saltash Partners
• Which quadrants now?
Doug Poutasse, NCREIF
• What’s global about real estate?
Michael Pralle, JER
• Liquidity: The fifth quadrant?
Andreas Calianos, The Common Fund

Session Four: Lost in translation
Valuation is a part of the process which allows international investors to monitor the effectiveness of property assets, whether they own them directly or via pooled investment vehicles. Have local methodologies and the global standards shown sufficient robustness during the recent volatility? Will investors (and regulators) demand a more universal approach to valuation? And, in the meantime, do direct and indirect investors really have a valid basis for the measurement and control of the performance of international real estate?

• Valuation and appraisals: global relevance and international validity
Brian Corcoran, Cushman & Wakefield
• Valuation and appraisals: global processes and professionalism
David Jenkins, Altus
• Performance measurement: The need to know
Paul Mouchakkaa, CalPERS
• Performance modeling: The need to learn
Simon Fairchild, IPD


REALTIME Day 2: Wednesday 18 November

Session Five: Knowledge is power
Large-scale investors are able to support the expense of market research and the development of information management systems. The speakers in this session will explore the development of proprietary systems of information gathering and management, and evaluate them as a source of strategic advantage.

• Know your planet
Stuart Brodsky, GE Real Estate
• Know your portfolio
Steve Furnary, ING
• Know your customers
John Strangefield, Prudential Global Investors
• Know the role of property
Tony Key, Cass Business School / IPD

Session Six: FaceTime
Two hour-long peer to peer sessions in small groups on the following subjects and/or others suggested by delegates when registering:


1): South America
2): CEE
3): Middle East
4): China
5): BRIC
6): North America
7): International valuation standards
8): Transparency in reporting
9): Global financial regulation
10): Transaction costs & processes
11): Portfolio theory
12): Rating agencies
13): Global REITs
14): Levels of leverage
15): Private equity
16): Sovereign investors
17): Mortgage backed securities
18): Derivatives



12.45 pm: Lunch followed by after-lunch speaker: Tom Barrack, Colony Capital
"If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future."
Winston Churchill


Session Seven: Getting real about global real estate. Getting it right this time
What strategies can investors (and regulators) now adopt?
Finding real value: Identifying areas with the potential for the wealth creation that adds value to real estate
Finding the road: Selecting the instruments and channels suitable for the investor
Finding the light: The revitalization of real estate in the US and its role as a standard setter for the global marketplace
Finding the way home: Lessons from the conference and the reform of the global real estate infrastructure

• Finding real value
Mark Roberts, Invesco
• Finding the road
François Pochard, AEW Europe
• Finding the light
Jeff Jacobson, LaSalle Investment Management
• Finding the way home
Rupert Nabarro, IPD / Geoff Dohrmann, IREI

(NB speaker names are indicative, unless underlined)