The Round-Up, October 2022

Change Afoot

To our valued clients and friends, 

Whilst Europe was on holiday this summer, you could be forgiven for thinking the world was falling apart. The macro picture went from bad to catastrophic as spiralling inflation (the worst in Europe for decades) and in turn the “cost of living” became a nightmare across the continent and indeed globally. With the war in Ukraine showing little sign of abating, policy makers have been grappling with how to mitigate the damage. In the UK the Conservative party, after disposing of Boris Johnson, spent the summer choosing between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to be the next Prime Minister both of whom had very different ideas on how to tackle the fundamental problem of inflation.  No sooner had Liz Truss been sworn in as British Prime Minister than the death of Queen Elizabeth II was announced on the 8th of September, a great shock to the nation, despite her age. This created an eerie sense of calm as we witnessed the wheels of an ancient constitution in motion. Never before has Britain acquired a new prime minister and monarch in the same week.

Through the lens of real estate debt, we try and make some sense of it all.  We have two fascinating interviews, with Arron Taggart, Head of UK Debt Origination at Cheyne Capital (Real Estate Capital’s UK Lender of the year in 2021), and a further interview with John Barakat, Co-Founder of the recently formed alternatives lender, Girona Partners, and formerly Head of Real Estate Finance at M&G.

On top of these compelling interviews, we have highlights of our round table with the great and good of the European debt world shining a light on some of the key questions impacting real estate as we approach the final quarter of 2022.

Best wishes,
Peter Field

Expert Opinion

Interview with Arron Taggart

Arron Taggart is currently Head of UK Origination at Cheyne Capital in London. Arron has over 20 years of experience in real estate markets. He joined Cheyne in August 2012 to originate real estate loans in the UK and Northern Europe. Prior to Cheyne, Arron was a Property Specialist and Partner at Clydesdale Bank responsible for the origination and execution of real estate loans in London and the South of England. He was also responsible for the management of the loan portfolio and setting regional strategy. Prior to Clydesdale Bank, he was at Bank of Scotland and Hitachi Capital.

Expert Opinion

Interview with John Barakat

John Barakat has spent 35 years in the real estate industry in the US and Europe.  After 17 years in real estate at Goldman Sachs, John founded the Real Estate Debt business at M&G Investments and was responsible for establishing one of the leading alternative lenders in the European real estate market.  In May of this year, John founded Girona Partners LLP, along with two former colleagues from M&G, Peter Foldvari, and Jamil Farooqi, with plans to build an independent specialist real estate credit boutique.

Debt Round Table

Sousou Partners were delighted to host a roundtable discussion featuring well-respected experts in the European real estate debt space. Peter Field and Will Parker were joined by representatives of some of the largest alternative lenders and advisory firms who shared their thoughts on the sector.

General sentiment was that real estate remains a strong hedge against inflation, with GPs moving away from offering individual products to offering solutions, encompassing all aspects of the real estate capital stack. The outlook for European real estate, particularly the UK, was less optimistic, favouring an equity shift away from European real estate into US opportunities. High inflation, low growth, a lack of production and political uncertainty all paint a bleak future. However, the increased risk and volatility in the real estate equity market was viewed as favourable to European and UK debt as investors look to shift exposure lower down the capital stack to provide downside risk protection. This bodes well for both the new debt funds that have launched in the last 12 months and existing funds that have been in growth mode. The feeling is there is plenty of room for all of these firms, particularly as traditional lenders decrease their exposure.

Whilst interest rate rises may curb inflation, they may also cause suffering in the residential market as homeowners struggle to cover the increased costs of servicing mortgages. On the commercial side, the middle market is expected to suffer the most in the retail and hospitality sectors, as there is a bifurcation to high-end and low-end goods and services due to the cost-of-living crisis and widening income inequality. The office sector provides the greatest conundrum for lenders. It was widely felt that anything other than Class A stock (of which there is a shortage) was untouchable unless a significant amount of CapEx is to be put in to upgrade to meet current ESG guidelines.

We would like to thank everyone who was able to attend for their time and insights.

Key Moves

A highlight of key people moves within global real assets over the last two months

EMEA

  • Drew Goldman joined ADIA as Global Head of Real Estate
  • BNP Paribas Real Estate appointed Rick Niemeijer as Chief Executive Officer for The Netherlands
  • NREP hired Jesse Shapins as Head of Urban Strategy and Design
  • Lendlease hired Fabien Toscano as Managing Director, Investment Management, Europe
  • Johan Brakenhielm joined Schroders as Head of Nordic Real Estate
  • Freo Group appointed Hartmut Leser as Partner and Chief Investment Officer
  • Delin Property hired Gary Jones as Chief Financial Officer
  • Mark Terry joined Westwind Capital as Chief Financial Officer
  • Deutsche EuroShop appointed Hans-Peter Kneip as Chief Financial Officer
  • Hyperco appointed Joachim Kauppi as Chief Commercial Officer
  • Crestbridge appointed Brian Jemwa as Head of its real estate funds division
  • Boreal IM appointed Nikos Koulouras as a Partner
  • Stanhope Capital hired James Lawlor as Partner and Head of Real Estate
  • Alex Thams joined KKR as Head of Nordics
  • Katharina Godecke was appointed Head of International Acquisitions and Sales at Deka Immobilien
  • Heimstaden hired Frans Heijbel as Managing Director for Strategy & M&A, and Steen Lonberg Jorgensen as Head of Capital Raising and Client Relations
  • Immobel hired Andrew MacDonald as Head of Finance and JVs
  • Macquarie AM hired Parthia Mazda Ghaziani as Head of Nordic Real Estate Transactions
  • Seaforth Land appointed Jon Allgood as Head of Asset Management
  • Natalie Wehrmann joined CBRE to lead the firm’s German strategic advisory team
  • GLP appointed Stefano Fissolo as Senior Director, Renewables
  • Europa Capital hired Chris Miller-Jones as ESG director
  • QuadReal hired Farhaz Miah as Vice President, European Research & Strategy
  • Niamh Canavan joined Invel Real Estate as Head of Investor Relations

AMERICAS

  • Matthias Corder and Derek Jacobson, both previously at Madison International Realty, teamed up to form KADENS Capital
  • Anthony Breault joined Acentris as Managing Director
  • Participant Capital hired Eli Neusner as Head of US Investor Relations
  • Avison Young appointed Seth Weinert as Principal and Director of Strategy and Risk Management, based in Chicago

APAC

  • Kaisa Capital Investment Holdings appointed Zheng Wei as Chief Executive Officer
  • APG Asset Management on Wednesday appointed Thijs Aaten as Chief Executive for Asia
  • KWG Group appointed Patrick Law Yiu Wing as an independent, Non-Executive Director
  • GLP hired Jennifer Weitzel as President of its global data centre business
  • HSBC Asset Management appointed Victoria Sharpe as Head of Real Assets
  • Korea Investment Corporation appointed Lee Hoon as Chief Investment Officer
  • DigitalBridge Group appointed Tae E Ahn as Managing Director and Head of Asia Capital Formation in Singapore
  • Gaw Capital Partners hired Nitin Gupta as Managing Director and Head of India
  • Tony Kwok joined Arrow Capital Partners in Shanghai as Director of Business Development
  • JiEun (Jessica) Lee joined KKR in Seoul as a Principal
  • Mark Cameron joined Nuveen in Hong Kong as Head of Sustainability for APAC
  • Martin Seol joined M&G Real Estate as Director of Portfolio Management and Head of Targeted Strategy for the Asia Life Fund in Singapore

Transactions

A look at some of the largest real estate deals over the last two months

Focus: Equity

Focus: Debt

Market Insights

Market Trends

  • The amount of capital raised for private real estate vehicles in the first half of 2022, for a decade-low number of funds, was the lowest half-year total since 2014 at $67.3bn
  • The number of private real estate funds opting for a debt strategy reached a five-year high in H1 2022
  • The rise of construction costs due to labour shortages and supply-chain issues are making real estate development less attractive to investors
  • Supermarket investment crashed after a bullish two years, with year-to-date total investment 75% below the same period last year

Debt

  • Credit Suisse provided Aeon Investments with £900m for UK CRE CLOs
  • Specialist bridging lender Glenhawk has agreed a £200m senior funding line with NatWest Markets to support its ambitions to lend £1bn annually by 2024
  • CBRE signed a new five-year revolving credit agreement worth $3.5bn, with incentives linked to achieving certain sustainability goals

Fund Raises

  • Brookfield Asset Management raised $14.5bn for its latest real estate opportunity fund
  • Aermont Capital completed fundraising for its fifth fund in July, totalling €3.8bn
  • Breakthrough Properties, a JV between Bellco Capital and Tishman Speyer, raised $3bn to buy and build BioTech facilities in US and Europe, with a focus on sustainability
  • LaSalle IM raised over $2.2bn of equity for LaSalle Asia Opportunity VI
  • Henderson Park raised €1.4bn for its second European opportunity fund
  • AllianceBernstein raised $1.3bn for its fourth US real estate debt fund
  • Madison Realty Capital raised $914m for the sixth vehicle in its flagship real estate debt fund series
  • DeA Capital Real Estate is planning to raise €500m for its debut pan-European fund
  • Invel is targeting its first institutional fund totalling €300-400m of capital commitments