At the Global Real Estate Summit, organised by Cityscape Global last month, the top real estate experts were presented with a single question: Where and in what would you invest $100 Million? Here are their interesting answers:
Alex Craine, Head of Consultancy, MENA, CBRE, UAE
“Any investment of that size should be diversified, I would invest in a mixture of shares in regional real estate developers, a local fund or REIT and also some direct property holdings.”
Andrew Williamson, Head of Retail, MENA at JLL.
“I would look at opportunities in the KSA market, retailers are seeking locations and willing to pay premium rates if a developer builds a suitable high quality development with the appropriate mix of retail, F&B and entertainment for the community.”
Christopher Seymour, Partner, Head of Property, EC Harris
“High quality assets in most parts of the world usually demonstrate good long term investments – and I would include the Middle East.”
Christophe Reech, Chairman and CEO, Reech AiM Group, Luxembourg & UK
“I would deploy a balanced and diversified portfolio with various sectors and regions. I would also use some capital markets instruments to optimize my portfolio and find some protections for the risky parts of the portfolio.”
Filippo Sona, Director | Head of Hotels, Colliers International, UAE
“I would invest it in Economy Hotels in Saudi Arabia and serviced apartments in Dubai and Abu Dhabi”
Mansoor Ahmed, Director, Development Solutions, Colliers International, UAE
“The region is hungry for affordable housing, if I have US$ 100 million I will invest in affordable housing and / or social infrastructure such as healthcare and education sectors.”
Marcin Juszczyk, Board Member and Head of Investment Department, Capital Park, Poland
“Each investor must find a niche and competently respond to market changes. In accordance with the investment strategy adopted by Capital Park, I would designate $100 million for high-street properties and infrastructure assets. We take an opportunistic approach to investing, which means that we seeks out projects offering the potential to generate the highest returns.”
Mohammad Al Duaij, Managing Director, Alea Global Group, Kuwait
“Infrastructure and housing projects in Egypt and infrastructure and tourism in Morocco.”
Nicholas Maclean, Managing Director, CBRE Middle East, UAE
“For international investors there are two countries which stand out for interest: Egypt and the UAE. These countries sit at opposite ends of the risk curve and the appeal to different sets of buyers but both contain strong growth opportunities.”
Dr. Eng. MIOD Pierpaolo Franco, Global Director of Training Products, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), UK
“Probably I would differentiate the investment
30% real estate (commercial most probably)
20% in a global equity fund
30% in social investment (UK probably)
20% in digital economy business (Middle East and China probably)”
Tim Rose, Head of Real Estate, Emirates NBD Asset Management, UAE
“Opportunities with strong lease covenants but with upside in the income, due to either below market contract rentals or manageable vacancy in the asset.”