CONFERENCE DAY 1 - 3 MAY 2017

The Asian CRE market: Are we in another bubble or a land of opportunity?

• How are the different CRE asset classes faring and what is their outlook?
• What opportunities has Brexit created (or will it create) for Asian real estate players, given the diminished value of the pound?
• Will the prospect of interest rate rises deter investors?
• Can we expect to see additional opportunities in distressed real estate?
• If the weight of capital in the core space continues to drive capital values up, then can we absorb the downwards trend in cap rates?

Cross-border capital flows: What’s trending?

• Is there a trend towards diversifying out of home biased investments?
• Will there be an impact on capital flows as a result of the recent geo-political instability in the US and Europe and anti-Chinese rhetoric?
• What will be the impact of cross-border investments to your total portfolio returns apart from the benefit of diversification?
• Is the trend of Asian capital heading to the US and Europe likely to increase, given the cash reserves of sovereign wealth and pension funds, insurance firms and private investors, particularly the Chinese?

Asia real estate: what’s hot and what’s not?

• With yields in Asia at levels which could be deemed uncompetitive with those in the US & Europe, is there an increased appetite for moving up the risk curve to provide better returns?
• Does moving further up the risk curve offer opportunities for investing in some of Asia’s developing economies?
• How can we reconcile increased risk appetite with the increased institutional capital flowing into Asian markets, given their traditionally risk-averse investment profile?

Banks & Real Estate Financing: Where are we now?

Despite the belief that banks weren’t playing in the commercial real estate sector as much anymore, at the end of Q3 2015, banks and thrifts had a record USD $1.79 trillion of commercial real estate debt on their books, so what does the future hold?

• Are banks now only interested in senior debt or is there still some who will step further onto the risk curve and consider mezzanine?
• Does the emergence of private real estate debt funds create opportunities for banks to diversify their CRE investment strategy?
• Is the focus on senior debt purely a result of much tighter regulation, or is there simply a general risk aversion at this point? How much is increased regulation raising funding costs and eroding margins?
• Is there a preference for investing in specific asset classes or industries?
• What’s the M&A appetite within the banks?
• Is there any impact from the record Asia Pacific bond issuances in 2015?
• Which Asian markets provide the easiest opportunities for raising debt?

Private Real Estate Debt Funds: The new normal?

• How does the mindset of private real estate debt funds differ? Is it true to say they are acting more as loan originators than raising money to take over legacy portfolios?
• Does this mark a growing trend of private equity funds pushing further into debt investments?
• What role will the banks play in these funds? Is it only ever going to be the senior debt?
• Is a declining junk bond market creating a buying opportunity from hedge funds and others that have been traditionally active in mezzanine loans and other high yield debt?
• A high quality security with an impressive yield: Is this simply the best option for defensive and income-focused investors?
• How applicable are private real estate debt funds for emerging markets? Will high value real estate opportunities in those markets still be considered, or are they really only for A grade geographies?

The China Story: Opportunities for working in China and with Chinese investors

• Has the economic slowdown in 2015 caused international investors to rethink or do they view it as creating opportunity?
• With policy initiatives aimed at boosting capital flows into real estate and interest rate cuts lowering the developer cost of capital, where are the opportunities? Should you be looking at second tier cities or is it better to stick with the safety of Beijing & Shanghai? And with second tier cities, how can you avoid the oversupply mistake?
• With the government’s anti-corruption initiative, institutional and core funds have started backing prime income-producing assets in tier 1 cities. Is this trend set to continue?
• Opportunistic possibilities: Are economic issues, oversupply and declining development margins creating opportunities for discerning investors in the opportunistic space?
• Is the growth in platform and entity-level transactions in China one that it set to continue?
• What opportunities is the increased appetite of Chinese developers for partnering with international players creating?
• China as an outbound investor: With estimates that Chinese insurers could export as much as US $240 billion to international property markets in the next 10-20 years, and strong appetite from Chinese investors for international projects and acquisition, is there an increased opportunity to work with Chinese investors on an international level?