On June 5th, Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and ESSEC Business School jointly organised the first Annual Forum on Commercial and Hospitality Real Estate at the Hilton Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. Led by Professor Dan Quan of the Centre for Real Estate at Cornell University and Professor Michel Baroni of Essec Business School, nearly 100 alumni and other industry executives from the real estate, banking and financial sectors participated in a lively debated on current developments in hospitality finance and real estate.
In the first session, entitled “Real Estate Capital in Crisis: Where is the money?”, panellists Mark Wynne-Smith, CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle EMEA, Etienne Dupuy, Deputy Managing Director BNP Paribas Real Estate Investment Services, Remi Rein, Deputy Director, Atisreal Hotels - BNP Paribas Real Estate and Cris Broderick, Kingdom Holdings discussed the implications of the global financial crisis and how it has prompted major changes in the financing and funding of commercial real estate transactions. Pointing out that traditional sources of funding have disappeared, the panel discussed how a limited number of transactions are still occurring, abet at a much higher cost of capital. Speakers also speculated that economic recovery is likely to come to the European and Asian markets before stability returns to the US.
Following an introductory presentation by Professor Daniel Lebret of Cornell, Christian de Kerangal, Managing Director IPD France and Southern Europe, Christian Aufsatz, Senior Vice President, Structured Finance / CMBS, Moody's Investor Services and Professor Fabrice Barthélémy , Professor of Economics at Université de Cergy Pontoise debated how the concept of derivates could be extended to hospitality real estate. While property derivatives have established markets in the UK, France and Germany, the development of a similar index for the lodging sector would provide investors with another possibility to manage their risk. Two indices, one for Paris residential properties and the other for French lodging properties, were introduced during the session and their use and application debated.
Feedback from participants on the presenters and panels was very favourable, and plans are already underway to host a similar event in 2010.
For further information on the Annual Forum on Hospitality Real Estate or Essec’s educational programs, please contact Charles Luthi (luthi@essec.fr, Tel: +33 1 34 43 31 73)
photo:
Left – Right front row 1.Daniel Lebret Visiting Assistant Professor of Real Estate Finance Cornell University 2.Christian de Kerangal Head IPD France
3.Mark Wynne-Smith CEO Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels EMEA 4.Cris Broderick Managing Director Hotel Capital Advisers Europe
Left – Right back row :1.Peter O’Connor
2.Charles Luthi
3.Fabrice Barthélémy Associate Professor of Economics Université de Cergy Pontoise
4.Remy Rein Deputy Director Atisreal - BNP Paribas Real Estate
5.Professor Michel Baroni Academic Director of the Specialized Master’s in Financial Techniques & Insurance Associate Professor of Finance at ESSEC Business School.
6.Etienne Dupuy Deputy Managing Director BNP Paribas Real Estate Investment Services
7.Professor Daniel C. Quan Co-Director of the Center for Real Estate Finance Professor of Real Estate & Finance at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. Missing on this photo Christian Aufsatz Senior Vice President Structured Finance / CMBS Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
