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MIPIM HORIZONS ReviewDecember 2008magazine

www.mipimhorizons.com

Nabil El Kerdoudi El Koulali, memberof the board, Al OmraneDevelopment Holding (Morocco)

Vladimir Resin, first deputy of the Mayor ofMoscow City (Russia)

Thierry Renault, deputy managing Director, Reed MIDEM (France), Luis FernandoCorrea-Bahamon, president FIABCI World (Colombia), Alfredo Cotait Neto, munici-pal secretary for Internal Affairs, Sao Paulo City Hall (Brazil)

Bernardo Retana, senior associate, QInvest (Qatar)

Joao Batista Crestana, president, Secovi (Brazil)

Wassim Aboul Naja, director, Portofolio & Follow-up Department, Islamic Corporation for theDevelopment of the Private Sector (Saudi Arabia)

Mohamed Mezghani, head of MENA Office, UITP (Belgium)

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••• CONTENTS

MIPIM Horizons Review magazineJanuary 2009Director of Publications: Paul Zilk

Editorial DepartmentEditor in Chief: Paul Strohm •Reporter: Mark Moore • Sub Editors:Joanna Stephens • Proof Reader:Debbie Lincoln • Technical Editor inChief: Herve Traisnel • DeputyTechnical Editor in Chief: FredericBeauseigneur • Graphic Designers:Cecile Kizlik, Carole Peres • EditorialManagement: Boutique Editions

Production DepartmentContent Director: Jean-Marc Andre •Publications Production andDevelopment Manager: MartinScrepel • Publishing Co-ordinators:Amrane Lamiri, Bruno Piauger •Production Assistant: EmilieLambert, David Le Chapelain •Production Assistant, Cannes Office:Eric Laurent

Administrative & AdvertisingDepartmentDeputy Managing Director: ThierryRenault • MIPIM Horizons Director:Nathalie Depetro • Sales Director:Beatrice Gravier • Sales Director:Severine Menut • Sales Director/Investors, Corporate End-Users:Aude Fraisse • Sales Manager /Buyers: Flavie Appeyroux • SalesManager: Dimitri Gillouard • SalesManager: Rodolfo Garcia • SalesExecutive: Geraud de Dieuleveult •UK Managing Director: PeterRhodes • Senior Vice President(USA): Patric Dolan • ProgrammeDirector: Cathie Laven •Programme Coordinator: MaudAnnonier • Marketing Director:Alain Courbon

Published by Reed MIDEM — BP 572— 11, rue du Colonel Pierre Avia —75726 Paris Cedex 15, France —Contents © 2009, Reed MIDEMMarket Publications — Publicationregistered 1st quarter 2009

OVERVIEW 3-5

KEYNOTES AND CONFERENCES 6-7

INVESTMENT AND INVESTORS 8

NORTH AFRICA AND TURKEY 9

LATIN AMERICA 10

EASTERN EUROPE AND RUSSIA 11

HOTELS AND TOURISM 12

RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT 13

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••• OVERVIEW

MIPIM HORIZONS REVIEW MAGAZINE 2008 / 3

REAL-estate professionals work-ing in the world’s fast-growingeconomies met in Cannes in earlyDecember 2008 for the first everMIPIM Horizons.Created by Reed MIDEM — thecompany behind the MIPIM andMIPIM Asia business-to-businessproperty shows — the three-dayevent was designed as a showcaseand networking forum for the real-estate markets in high-potential,fast-growing countries. The em-phasis among exhibitors was onresidential, and hotel and tourismproperty developments.There were 62 countries repre-sented at MIPIM Horizons. About6,000 sq m of space was occupiedby exhibitors from North Africa andthe Middle East (40%), Eastern Eu-rope and Russia (50%), and LatinAmerica (10%). Over 1,200 participants attended theevent and, crucially, among themwere some 251 investors, hotelgroups and end users.“MIPIM Horizons was created in re-

sponse to demand from clients at-tending MIPIM — both internationalinvestors and potential exhibitors— for an event that focused on thespecial characteristics of real es-

tate in fast-growing markets inhigh-growth countries and regions,such as Latin America, Eastern Eu-rope, Russia, Central Asia, theMiddle East and Africa,” said

MIPIM Horizons’ director, NathalieDepetro. “Even at this time of in-ternational financial unrest, it wasclear that there is still demandfrom the investment sector.”

Talking business on Onapar’s stand

MIPIM Horizons opens door to world’shigh-growth, high-potential markets

Reed MIDEM CEO Paul Zilk cuts the tape to officially open the firstMIPIM Horizons. With him are colleagues (left to right) Thierry Re-nault and Nathalie Depetro; Mayor of Cannes Bernard Brochand;Branimir Gvozdenovic, minister of economic development of thegovernment of Montenegro; and Mike Rusbridge, chairman andCEO of Reed Exhibitions

COMMENTING on the MIPIMHorizons Leadership Summit,Vladimir Resin (pictured),first deputy Mayor of MoscowCity, said: “A number of veryimportant questions werediscussed. For example, welooked at the development ofcities, social housing andecology. We think Moscowhas experience in all theseareas — especially in social-housing construction — andcan share that experiencewith other countries. MIPIMHorizons was a very good ex-hibition and I’m sure it will goon to develop still further.”

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••• OVERVIEW

4 / MIPIM HORIZONS REVIEW MAGAZINE 2008

MIPIM Horizons’ packed pro-gramme of events was designed toensure that both exhibitors andpotential investors maximisedtheir networking opportunities andhad the chance to share knowl-edge and best practice.To facilitate the match-makingprocess, a series of intimate work-shops were organised on stands.These enabled exhibitors to ex-plain their projects in detail tosmall groups of people with aknown interest in a particular area.Similarly, a series of guided toursenabled investors to take in rele-vant stands quickly and efficiently.“This was helpful to both investors,who did not necessarily want to be‘under the spotlight’, and ex-hibitors, not all of whom are usedto participating at such trade

shows,” said MIPIM Horizons’ di-rector, Nathalie Depetro.Conferences featuring some of theworld’s leading real-estate expertsexplored the markets in each keyregion. Meanwhile, the SpeedMatching sessions drew capacityaudiences with their seven-minute, quick-fire presentationsof selected projects.An invitation-only LeadershipSummit explored the subject ofsustainable urban managementfrom a number of perspectives. “Iam convinced that it is very impor-tant to bring together people fromdifferent sectors, such as invest-ment, development and localgovernment, with environmentalexperts to discuss the challengesfaced by emerging regions,” De-petro added.

Three days of listening, learning and earning

Speed Matching sessions filled the conference room

Listen to the experts: a packed programme of conferences helped makeMIPIM Horizons a true learning experience

On-the-stand workshops, such as Montenegro’s attracted focused audiences

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DESPITE a bleak global financialscene, many positive messagesemerged from MIPIM Horizons —not least because many of theevent’s target markets have beensomewhat insulated from thedownturn afflicting the world’smore mature economies.Warwick International Hotels’ di-rector of group development,Jean-Francois Garnier, told theReview why he was feeling “verypositive about MIPIM Horizons”.“It’s a time of opportunity,” he said.“When I arrived in Cannes, Ithought that, because financing istough, MIPIM Horizons might bea dead end. But many of the coun-

tries attending the event were a lit-tle bit outside the crisis. Forinstance, Morocco has its own fi-nancial system that is not reallylinked to the international one.Firstly, their currency is not veryconvertible and, secondly, theirbanks are not allowed by their cen-tral bank to do just what they want,such as investment-bank financ-ing. In general, local banks inemerging markets are mainly thereto help develop the country. Talk-ing to bankers during MIPIMHorizons, ‘sub prime’ doesn’t ap-pear to exist in many emergingcountries. “I am now convinced that financing

is not the potential deal breaker,People can get financing, which isvery interesting. Emerging-marketbanking systems appear to be forfinancing imports and exports, andfor retail banking — in other words,classical banking activities. “If you talk to Latvians, it’s thesame story. When you ask themabout financing, they’ll tell youthere’s a local bank funding theproject. We are not talking aboutbillions, of course, but we are talk-ing about reasonable amounts ofmoney.“So yes, I’m very positive about thisevent. And, if I’m asked, I’ll be backagain next year.”

••• OVERVIEW


Jean-Francois Garnier: “I am nowconvinced that financing is not thepotential deal breaker”

Talking business in the VIP Lounge

Face-to-face: the Opening Night Party gets introductions off to a flying startThe Participants’ lounge provided numerous networking opportunities

“It’s a time of opportunity”

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••• KEYNOTES AND CONFERENCES


• TOURISM represents between 15%-20% of

GDP in Balkan countries such as Bulgaria,

Croatia and Montenegro — comparable with

Greece and more than for Turkey. Moreover,

growth projections for the next 10 years are

strong.

Debating the future of tourism in the

Balkans was Alfa Developments’ Elitsa

Panayotova, International Hotels Group’s

Peter Vermeer, EBRD’s Thibault Dutreix and

Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank’s Olga Kiendler.

Moderating the session was George Dutchev

of Property Xpress.

The Balkans’ tourism growth has been

assisted by the emergence of new sectors,

such as spas, health, cultural and adventure

tourism. However, significant issues have

hampered the sector’s development, notably

under-investment in infrastructure and the

region’s short summer season. Despite

these drawbacks, the panel said the

Balkans’ future as a tourist destination

looks promising and has been improved by

the prospect of EU membership.

• UKRAINE's real-estate markets were the

subject of a discussion

between two experts on the subject:

Jurgen Fruhschutz, publisher of Commercial

Property, and Julian Ries, head of real-

estate practice at Beiten Burkhardt.

Fruhschutz reported that GDP growth in

Ukraine has stood at around 6% a year for

the past five years, while retail sales growth

in 2008 was 25%. “People forget sometimes

that Ukraine is actually the largest European

nation,” he added. “Demand has been pent

up and is now being released.”

Ries pointed out that the legal basis for

foreign investment in Ukraine’s real estate is

improving all the time. “Five to eight years is

now the average lease time,” he said. “And

leases are set at 25 years, which developers

tend to prefer.”

IN ANSWER to the question,Why Invest In Argentina?, apacked MIPIM Horizons audito-rium heard that real estate is thesecond most important eco-nomic sector in Argentina.Opportunities abound in trans-port, waste disposal, water andhousing, where there is a gap ofsome 300,000 dwellings. Ar-gentina also has an emerginginternational third-age market.The panel, which consisted ofFrancisco Cabrera, minister ofeconomic development for the

City of Buenos Aires, FundacionExportAr’s Marcelo Elizondo andGrupo Farallon’s EduardoGutierrez, also told delegatesthat, while vacancy rates are low

in Argentina’s office stock, thereremains a shortage of industrialspace. It is estimated thataround 250,000 sq m of modernspace is needed.

Investors hear it for Argentina

AT THE conference Brazil: TheNext Playground Of The World?,Thompson and Knight’s IvanTauil, Itacare Capital’s Pedro deMiranda and the Ministry ofTourism of Brazil’s Hermano Car-

valho, discussed the prospectsfor tourism in Latin America’slargest country.The panel, moderated by HVS’Diogo Canteras, told delegatesthat Brazil’s prospects changed

dramatically when Europeansstarted to buy second homes in thecountry. Brazil’s abundant and un-der-exploited land meant that, atone time, no less than 450 devel-opments were listed in the

northeast of the country. That fig-ure now stands at a more realisticlevel. While Brazil’s tourism sec-tor has been hit by the worldeconomic crisis, it still representsgood value for money.

Brazil on course to become world’s playground

Dr Marcelo Elizondo takes the stand with (left to right), moderator GuyPerry, Francisco Cabrera and Eduardo Gutierrez

Make ready for megacities

URBANISATION trends are puttingemerging economies in the spot-light. About 50% of the world’spopulation already lives in cities.By 2050, there will be 60 megaci-ties worldwide, containing600 million people.Frauke Kraas, director of the ge-ography department at the

University of Cologne, Germany,explored the implications of thistrend in her keynote speech,Megacities And Global Change:Key Challenges, Action ModelsAnd Strategic Solutions. According to Kraas, mega-urbanareas create substantial opportu-nities. Nevertheless, thechallenges are also substantial —not least the economic, social andcultural changes. Sustainability is-sues are a common focus,particularly in terms of resources. However, Kraas observed thatfresh attention must be paid to ne-gotiation processes. The increasedlevel of ‘informality’ found inmegacities means they are moredifficult to govern. The key ques-tions that need to be addressed,

Kraas said, include “how to bringwhich kinds of people into theprocess” of government. Kraas noted that our present un-derstanding is that “thegovernment” will take care ofthings. “But we have to changethis perspective, because morestakeholders have emerged in re-cent years and we have to includethem in the process,” she said. Kraas added that we must focuson processes rather than on ur-ban form or structure: “Ourunderstanding is mainly basedupon perceptions of cities thatemerged in the late 19th andearly 20th centuries. Megacitiesgo beyond that, so we need tocollaborate across institutionalborders.”

Frauke Kraas: attention must bepaid to negotiation processes

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WEDNESDAY afternoon’s keynoteaddress focused on the history ofIslamic finance, or finance that iscompliant with Sharia law.The address was given by Was-sim Aboul-Naja, director of theportfolio and follow-up depart-ment at Saudi Arabia’s Islamic

Corporation for the Develop-ment of the Private Sector(ICD), who explained that the Is-lamic Development Bank (IDB)is involved in public-sector Is-lamic financing, while the ICDconcerns itself with the privatesector.

“The ICD looks to research tounderstand the available oppor-tunities in the private sector thatwill create Islamic financialproducts and improve economicgrowth in the 47 member coun-tries of the ICD and IDB,”Aboul-Naja said.

Islamic finance explored in ICD keynote

Wassim Aboul-Naja

Top players debate sustainability issuesat MIPIM Horizons Leadership summit

MOROCCO: A New Eldorado ForReal Estate Investment? was thetitle of a conference moderatedby architect Selma Zerhouni, as-sociate director of Archimedia,featuring panelists Nabil El Ker-doudi El Koulali of Al OmraneDevelopment, Omar Essakalli of

Mandarine Group and ChristianVande Craen of Thomas & PironInternational.The main message from thespeakers was that there arehuge opportunities for investors— both domestic and foreign —in Morocco. No toxic assets are

held by Moroccan banks, mean-ing that lending and finance arehighly unlikely to become aproblem for investors in thecountry. Morocco’s investmentincentives include five years’ ex-emption from residence tax onnew buildings.

Why canny investors are Morocco-bound

AT THE Leadership Summit, aninvitation-only event held duringMIPIM Horizons, a group of polit-ical leaders, investors, owners,occupiers, developers and con-sultants came together at theMajestic hotel to discuss the cen-tral sustainability issues of realestate development in the world'shigh-potential property markets.The summit was organisedaround several ‘round tables’,

each consisting of 10 partici-pants. Each round table debateda different topic — and each dis-cussion was led by a prominentfigure in the field in question. Af-ter intense debate, each roundtable was canvassed for its opin-ion by Maider Ferras, founder ofFrance’s Rangoli Consulting.The discussion on round-table onewas titled Innovations In Public-Private Partnership. It was chaired

by Michael Donovan of the OECD’surban development programme,regional competitiveness and gov-ernance. Round-table two,meanwhile, examined transportand land development and waschaired by Mohamed Mezghani,head of the Middle East and NorthAfrica office of the InternationalAssociation of Public Transport(UITP). On round-table three, the talkcentred on ensuring the provi-sion of social housing infast-growing markets. Thechairman was Ian Perry, chiefexecutive of Harvest HousingGroup. Round-table four de-bated real-estate finance inemerging markets, under theguidance of Jonathan Price,president of FIABCI UK. Andround-table five, chaired by NickAxford senior director at CBRE,discussed ways in which to keepthe ‘sustainability train’ on track.

Leadership Summit: Getting to the heart of issues in emerging markets

• REIDIN chief executive Ahmet Kayhan,based in the UAE, moderated the sessionon the next developments for the Gulfcountries. Speakers included Nazih Chen-touf of Aberdeen Property Investors, IseebRehman of Sherwoods Property Consult-ants and Andy McTiernan of Property Worldmagazine.The panel agreed that Gulf region’s eco-nomic future definitely lies in the ground —but in real estate, not in oil. “Investment inreal estate is growing much faster in theemerging markets than it is in the developedmarkets,” Kayhan said.

• L'AUC managing partner, architect andtown-planner Djamel Klouche gave akeynote speech on the design strategies ap-propriate to fast-growing territories. Klouche used three examples, the first ofwhich was the Tour Signal in La Defense,Paris. A key element here, Klouche said,was the recovery of rainwater. He addedthat 60% of the project’s non-drinking wa-ter is recycled.

• RANGOLI Consulting’s Maider Ferras, co-organiser of the MIPIM Horizons LeadershipSummit, said that integrating sustainablesolutions is more straightforward when con-sidering the plans of economies with highgrowth potential because so many are start-ing with a "blank sheet of paper". "What came out of the leadership summit isthat they all are thinking about sustainablesolutions, but all are looking at it from a dif-ferent perspective, whether that isgeographical, political or business.""The Leadership Summit was all aboutexchanging thoughts and experience fromeach of these different angles," Ferrasadded.One of Rangoli’s next challenges is consult-ing on the Global City Forum, which is to runin Abu Dhabi in April.

••• KEYNOTES AND CONFERENCES


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••• INVESTMENT AND INVESTORS


• PROFIMEX was atMIPIM Horizons tosearch for real-es-tate investments inthe Balkans. “Asglobal investors, weare looking for newconcepts in newmarkets,” said ElRosenheim, manag-ing director of theIsrael-based com-pany. “We are alsoseeking local part-

ners in countries in which we do not yetoperate.”According to Rosenheim, the Balkans arecurrently a focus for Profimex, as is Russiaand Latin America. “I don’t think any marketis immune from what is happening globally,”he added. “Strategically, we are looking toexpand our investments to cover morecountries and diversify our portfolio.”

• SEB INVEST-MENTS, a branch ofthe Nordic assetmanagement andbanking giant SEB,was at MIPIM Hori-zons to track theinternational mar-ket, according tomanaging director,Choy-Soon Chua.Chua said it is vitalto keep a watching

brief on real estate in the emerging territo-ries, especially in the current climate, wherethe cold economic winds are likely to haveless impact. “One of the keys to businesssuccess is an open mind,” he added.

• ABERDEEN PROP-ERTY INVESTORSwas in Cannes tomeet indirect in-vestors interestedin Russia, accordingto Magnus Weikert,the company’sEastern Europeanhead of fundraising.Russia is the onlystep that Aberdeenhas taken into East-ern Europe so far,

Weikert added: “Aberdeen has gone intoRussia for the long term. The market haschanged but that has thrown up a number ofopportunities that we didn’t have a yearback. Russia will be back on track — it’sjust a matter of timing now.”

SEB Investments’Choy-Soon Chua:“an open mind”

Profimex’s ElRosenheim: “newconcepts in newmarkets”

Aberdeen PropertyInvestors’ MagnusWeikert: “in Russiafor the long term”

MARIN Le Corre, generalmanager of Albania’s largestreal estate agency and in-vestor Balkimo, took to thestage during the MIPIM Hori-zons Speed Matching sessionsto profile his company’s activ-ities and strategies. “We are pleased to report thatwe have already received sev-eral million in financialcommitment to our fund,” LeCorre said. “We believe that

Speed Matching is an effectiveconcept that corresponds ex-actly to what experiencedinvestors are looking for.”He added: “MIPIM Horizonsalso allows us to meet potentialoperators interested in the re-gion in which we are investing.”Having initially specialised inAlbania, Balkimo has nowwidened its scope to includeMontenegro, Serbia andMacedonia.

Investors also do the talking atnew Speed Matching session

THREE Speed Matching ses-sions were staged during MIPIMHorizons.The sessions followthe same lines as speed dating,the idea being to match up fundsand projects after a seven-minute presentation.It was standing-room only at allthe Speed Matching events, butnever more so than at the in-vestors’ session, which featuredpresentations from AberdeenProperty Investors’ MagnusWeikert, Europolis Real EstateAsset Management’s BernhardMayer, Real Estate Options’Michael Teich, Mosaic Property’sChris Naylor and Balkimo’s

Marin Le Corre.Chris Naylor reported that, whileMosaic is focused on 14 EU ac-cession countries, in the currentclimate it is drawing back to thecore territories of Central Eu-rope: Poland, the Czech Republicand Latvia. The project SpeedMatching sessions included pre-sentations from Romania’sImpact Developer & Contractor,Mexico’s Del Sol Promocion yDesarollo and Grupo Pinero,Montenegro’s Gintasmont In-vestment Construction andTrade and HLT Fond, Morocco’sOmnidior, Brazil’s In-Vi and Bul-garia’s Alfa Developments.

CBRE’s Tonia Vera presented theBahia Principe Residential Golfcomplex in Mexico

STUART REID (pictured) of theBerlin office of the European-wide fund managementbusiness Rockspring PropertyAsset Management and hiscolleague, Budapest-basedSimon Clarke, were at Hori-zons to “test” the show,particularly from the CentralEuropean perspective. Reid is

adopting a wait-and-see ap-proach to the performance ofCentral European real estatein the current downturn. “It’sthe first time that the markethas gone through this phase,”he said. “You can’t do anythingbut monitor the situation be-cause it has not happenedbefore.”

Substantial funds back Balkimo’sfuture plans to expand

SEE Property Fund’s Marin Le Corre:“several million” committed

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• VALYANS CONSULTING, the Moroccan one-stop shop for real-estate consultancy,was at MIPIM Horizons to “put projects andpeople together”, according to the com-pany’s associate director, Sandrine Noury.“We came to MIPIM as a delegate, whichmade the case to come to MIPIM Horizonsas an exhibitor,” Noury said. “We offer mar-ket analysis, design and project sizing,feasibility studies, investor canvassing andstrategic development.”

• ACTIF INVEST was in Cannes on a profile-raising mission, according to the company’sportfolio manager Hind Najat. “We wanted toshowcase our projects and reinforce ourcontacts with existing clients, while forgingbonds with new clients.” He added that theMoroccan real-estate investor and fundmanager was particularly keen to talk to potential occupiers for office projects andretailers for commercial centres.Actif Invest is active in Morocco via twofunds: Actif Capital 1 (AC1) and MaghrebSiyaha Fund (MSF). “AC1, which is targetedat commercial projects, is the first real-es-tate fund to be launched in Morocco,” Najahsaid, adding that MSF is aimed at a widespectrum of tourism projects.

• PROFAC-EKO’s vice-chairman of the board,Kenan Saral, was at MIPIM Horizons to fur-ther his company’s ambition “to become theleader in facilities management in Turkey,followed by the Gulf and the Middle East”.Seral added: “We came to MIPIM Horizons to meet with companies operating in those regions, as well as with foreign companies aiming to make a start in theTurkish market.”ProFac-Eko — a joint venture betweenCanada-based SNC-Lavalin’s ProFac armand the Turkish Suzer Group’s EKO sub-sidiary — offers facility, property andproject management services. “We deliverthe expertise, efficiency and reliability acompany needs to realise the benefits ofoutsourcing operations and maintenance,”Saral said.

TUNISIAN investor and devel-oper Sodet Sud (Societe d’Etudeset de Developpement Touristiquedu Sud) was at MIPIM Horizonsto showcase its latest project —the Lella H’lima tourist destina-tion and residential village. The project is located at Zarzis,on the Mediterranean seaboard,

500 km southeast of the capitalTunis. With an initial investmentof €300m, Lella H’lima will takeup about 4 km of coastline andoccupy 110 ha. The project in-cludes a water park, greenspaces, villas, hotels, apart-ments, a medina and a ribat (anArab Andalucian-style village and

a local-style fortress). It will alsofeature a range of shops, enter-tainment and leisure facilities.“The village will combine Saha-ran and seaside tourism,” saidAtia Lorayedh, director generalof Sodet Sud. “It will be able toaccommodate up to 20,000 res-idents and tourists.”

Building on sand, sun and the Sahara Tunisiaputs Lella H’lima village on tourism map

MOROCCO’s biggest developer,Addoha Group, was at MIPIMHorizons to raise its interna-tional profile.“We are the biggest developer inthe country, with over 265,000properties in our portfolio, eithercompleted or under way,” saidAddoha Group marketing direc-tor, Lamia Hannaoui. “We have

65 ongoing projects, includingsome seriously big ones in 12major cities in Morocco:Casablanca, Agadir, Fes, Keni-tra, Marrakesh, Meknes, Rabat,Saidia, Sale, Tamesna, Tangierand Tetouan.”A presence at MIPIM Horizonsgave the group a platformfrom which to showcase its

major projects, Hannaoui said.He added: “Although Addohais 20 years old, we have histor-ically had a low profile. Now,we want to shout about our-selves internationally. We arelooking to touch base with theworld’s investors and wewould like them to get to knowus better.”

Valyans: one-stop real-estate shop

••• NORTH AFRICA AND TURKEY


“WE ARE a commercial devel-oper in Morocco,” said SaadBengelloun, director general ofNeil Investment. “We specialisein shopping centres under thebrand marque City Center. Weare currently developing the

5,000 sq m City Center Meknesand the 9,500 sq m City CenterRyad, but we also develop of-fices and residential projects,as well as tourist complexes.”Neil Investment has also re-cently launched a company,

Skhirat Invest, specifically todevelop industrial parks and lo-gistics hubs. “We came toMIPIM Horizons to look for re-tailers for our centres, as wellas new partners and opportu-nities,” Bengelloun added.

International future on the horizonfor Morocco’s biggest developer

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• TIERRAS EN PATAGONIA was at MIPIM Hori-zons to promote its high-altitude expertise.“There are many developers here,” said theagency’s associate director, Gaston Blous-son. “And they all develop the coast. We arethe only ones who develop mountains.” Tierras en Patagonia promotes developmentopportunities in the five provinces that con-stitute the region of Patagonia. Bloussonnoted that Argentina has some of the high-est mountains in the world — and many ofthem are in Patagonia. According to Blousson, the holidays of the21st century are more likely to involve activi-ties other than lying on a beach: “We arenow developing ski resorts in Patagonia.These will be the only places in the southernhemisphere that offer state-of-the-art skiingin state-of-the-art resorts. In this century, itwill become normal to ski in July and August— south of the equator.”

• IN-VI DO BRASIL’s president and foundingpartner, Guy Perry, had two key objectives inCannes: to find new opportunities for hiscompany’s masterplanning services and tosource financing for projects in Brazil.“MIPIM Horizons has been a very usefulevent,” Perry said. “It is small compared toMIPIM, but the advantage of that has beenmore time to meet people. There are someserious investors here and we have beenable to hold some good discussions, whichis all you can expect at this stage.”

• GRUPO MARIANA FAMILY OF RESORTS’chairman, Kevin Fleming, was at MIPIMHorizons to promote awareness ofNicaragua. Despite having experienced 18%per annum growth and a booming propertymarket for several years, the country hasstarted from such a low base that it is stillthe best value-for-money proposition inCentral America, Fleming said.In Cannes to network with potential capital-funding partners, Fleming was alsoshowcasing the 1,300-unit Seaside Marianaresort and the charitable organisation, Fun-dacion Mariana, which is helping to improveNicaraguan lives through real estate.Fleming was optimistic about achieving hisgoals: “MIPIM shows tend to attract serious peo-ple searching for serious business partners.”

PART OF the MIPIM Horizonsexperience was a series of MeetThe Exhibitors tours of the exhi-

bition hall. The first tour of theevent saw Reed MIDEM’s inter-national sales manager, Rodolfo

Garcia, conduct a group of dele-gates through a series of LatinAmerican stands. The idea wasto network, forge contacts andgive exhibitors a chance to talkthrough their priority projects. The business delegates in Gar-cia’s party included LaercioLemos De Souza of the BrazilianMinistry of Tourism, CBRESpain’s Tonia Salas Spain, GrupoPinero’s Jaime Charcartegui,Maison Buenos Aires’ Felix Keck-eis and Jadwiga Wisniowska ofPoland's KCI Centrum Zablocie.

Meeting and greeting the exhibitors

The Mexico stand:targeted tours increasedexhibitor exposure

BRAZIL’s Hermano Carvalho, di-rector of the Ministry of Tourism,was clear about his reasons for at-tending MIPIM Horizons: “Our firstobjective is to attract investors.”He added: “We are talking to theworld about tourism, we aremaking announcements andhave meetings planned. We havea strong economy — the biggestin Latin America — and we havethe resources, money and envi-ronment. We need to tell peoplewhat we want, need and expect.” Carvalho highlighted Brazil’stourism options, which rangefrom eco-tourism in the Amazonbasin to beach tourism on thecountry’s north-east coast. Healso noted that there are optionsfor all sizes of investor. Carvalho explained that Brazil’spresident ‘Lula’ (Luiz Inacio Lulada Silva) made tourism a na-tional priority in 2003. Now,Brazil’s hosting of the FIFA

World Cup in 2014 is also at-tracting massive investment.The Ministry was partnering ADITNordeste, the association for realestate and tourism developmentin north-east Brazil, in trying toattract tourism investment

through MIPIM Horizons. Carvalho said that, despite thecurrent world crisis, Brazil expectsits economic growth to continue,albeit at 3.0%-3.5% per annumrather than the 5.0% projectedbefore the financial downturn.

Hermano Carvalho (left): “Our first objective is to attract investors”

••• LATIN AMERICA


IN-VI Brazil’sGuy Perry:“There aresome seriousinvestors here”

Life is more than a beach forinvestors in Brazilian tourism

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• BECAR REALTY is “feeling well” in the cur-rent crisis, according to Natalia Galitsina,head of the Russia-based asset manage-ment company’s legal department. Galitsinasaid that, in the present climate, companiesneed more management than developmentand sales skills. MIPIM Horizons was anideal opportunity to showcase the com-pany’s services, she added. Becar works throughout the Russian Feder-ation, principally in the ‘Millioniki’, or the 11largest cities outside Moscow and St Pe-tersburg that have a population exceedingone million. Galitsina was impressed with the quality ofthe MIPIM Horizons participants: “I wouldsay there are mostly CEOs and senior man-agers here.”

• KAZKOMMERTS INVEST REAL ESTATE was in Cannes to target investorsand developers interested in expanding intoKazakhstan and needing a local partner. The Almaty-based company’s investor-rela-tions manager, Kuralay Sakanova, said theprovision of infrastructure per capita inKazakhstan may be low, but the country isrich in natural resources and has a stableand transparent economy. “The MIPIM Horizons catchline, ‘Be a pio-neer today and a leader tomorrow’, couldhave been written with Kazakhstan inmind,” Sakanova added.

• UNIVERSAL DEVELOPMENT CONSTRUC-TION HOLDINGS (UDC) used MIPIM Horizonsto spread the message that Ukraine ischanging rapidly and offers numerous op-portunities to foreign investors. Forexample, the country is readying itself forthe 2012 European Football Championships,which it shares with Poland, and investmentis now under way prior to the event. UDC’s CEO Leonid Bogdanov said that MIPIMHorizons has plenty of potential. “The ideaof an exhibition devoted to emerging mar-kets makes sense, as there are a differentset of investors involved,” he said.

••• EASTERN EUROPE AND RUSSIA


Becar Realty: “feeling well”

ROMANIAN real-estate consult-ant Regatta co-hosted its MIPIMHorizons stand with two Belfast-based UK developers, Blackpearland Sheridan.Luciana Petrescu, Regatta’scommunications manager, said:“We consult in every real estate-sector in Romania. One of ourmajor activities is attracting in-vestors to the country andassisting them to set up there.We came to MIPIM Horizons tospread the word about opportu-nities in Romania.”Blackpearl Property’s chairman,Michael Bell, added: “Did youknow that, at 93%, Bucharest hasthe highest home ownership inthe world? There is great demandand short supply. That’s why wewent to Romania. We focus onmarkets we believe offer sustain-

able demand for quality homesand commercial properties.”Sheridan Group’s chief execu-tive, Peter Holmes, said thatMIPIM Horizons had attracted “alot of serious people”.

He added: “It fully met our ex-pectations in terms of potentialbusiness leads and quality con-tacts. It was a good idea toprovide a focus for emergingmarkets.”

Romania’s Regatta pushes out the boat

Regatta: spreading the word

Montenegrin minister pledges tokeep foreign investors interested

MONTENEGRO has the highestlevel of foreign direct investment(FDI) in Europe and is one of thefastest growing tourist destina-tions, according to BranimirGvozdenovic, the country’s eco-nomic development minister.Montenegro adopted the eurofive years ago — a move, Gvozde-novic said, that has “helped usa lot in getting things done in theproper way in our economy. Weare the only country outside theEurozone using the euro as ourofficial currency.”He added: “Investment is themost important thing. I think wehave improved a lot with respectto speed of adoption of master-plans, building permits, etc. Wewant to maintain our position in

these turbulent circumstances.We need to be active and morecompetitive. We need to changethe laws — and we need tochange and improve our archi-tecture and infrastructure. Wehave to keep the interest of for-eign investors.” Gvozdenovic believes that this canbe achieved only with the help ofprestigious events such as MIPIMHorizons.At a series of presentations on theMontenegro stand, the ministryshowcased a range of infrastruc-ture developments, includinghighway and energy improve-ments, and the plans for VelikaPlaza, the 13 km-long beach re-sort that formed the centrepieceof the Montenegrin stand.

Montenegro’s BranimirGvozdenovic: “Investment is themost important thing”

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••• HOTELS AND TOURISM


• OMNIDIOR — the development arm ofmulti-tentacled Moroccan company Onapar,whose activities also include hotel, villa andholiday-resort projects — was seeking newinvestment partnerships at MIPIM Horizons.“Omnidior now owns more than 400 ha ofland in the most prestigious regions of Mo-rocco, representing a total value of €150m,”said Omnipar’s vice-president, AmineBerrada Sounni.Omnidior colleague Hind Berrada Sounnipointed to the company’s luxury MarrakeshAlhambra project: “This tourist complex, lo-cated 10 km outside Marrakesh, is both acultural and residential resort.”

• PALMERAIE DEVELOPPEMENT claims tohave been a leader in Morocco’s luxury re-sort sector for 40 years, according to thecompany’s strategic partnership director,Joanna Catenoz. “We currently have 15 proj-ects under way in Morocco, ranging in sizefrom 200 ha to 800 ha,” she added.Palmeraie is the upmarket development armof the Berrada Group. “Our activities rangefrom villa communities to hotels, marinas,yacht basins and golf resorts,” Catenoz said.

• MARINA BIZERTE, funded by privateTunisian investors, is a full-service marinabeing built next to the harbour in the ancientPhoenician port-town of Bizerte, located onTunisia’s north coast. “Bizerte is the point inAfrica closest to Europe,” said Marina Biz-erte’s marketing manager, ChristopheLacote. “Sardinia is only 200 km away andSicily is 220 km.”Marina Bizerte will be the first private ma-rina in Tunisia, Lacote said, adding: “We willbe able to take 110-metre mega-yachts. Weare offering 50-year leases on berths, withno capital-gains tax on berth sales.” The48,000 sq m marina will be partnered by aneight-storey block of 170 apartments.

Omnidior: talking investmentINVESTORS and local developerswere the main targets at MIPIMHorizons for Brice Marguet, In-tercontinental Hotels Group’s(IHG) director of development forFrance and North Africa. His objec-tive in Cannes was to identify newhotel opportunities in key cities. Marguet is positive about the de-mand for business hotels in thecurrent climate. “Although eco-nomic demand is shrinking,

business activity in cities re-mains,” he said. “People will keepmeeting and keep on establish-ing new business relationships.”IHG is focused on key cities withstrong levels of internationalbusiness and good transportconnections. Marguet addedthat MIPIM Horizons was a pro-ductive event for him and anopportunity for “highly targeted,pre-arranged meetings”.

IHG seeks opportunities in key cities

Intercontinental Hotels Group’sBrice Marguet: targeting keycities

Emerging world of opportunity opens up for Warwick Hotels

WARWICK International Hotelsis laying the foundations for ex-pansion — and Jean-FrancoisGarnier, director of group devel-opment, was at MIPIM Horizonsto move the strategy forward.Based in Paris, Warwick is pres-ent in Europe as well as the USand the South Pacific. “We nowwant to look at more emergingmarkets, such as North Africa,Central and South America, andthe Middle East,” Garnier said. The group’s growing presence inthe US provides a stepping-stoneto the fast-growing regions to thesouth, he said, adding: “It was in-

teresting to meet people fromPanama, for instance.”According to Garnier, Morocco isa natural choice, because War-wick is already present in Tunisiaand southern Spain. “We havenever approached the MiddleEast, although we have a lot ofMiddle Eastern customers, sothey know the Warwick name,”he said. “We saw a very interest-ing project in Egypt, which hasalready been conceptually de-signed. They have alsostructured the financing and areat the stage where they need toknow who will operate the hotel.”

Warwick International Hotels’Jean-Francois Garnier: movinginto emerging markets

AL ARABIA REAL ESTATE DE-VELOPMENT was promotingtwo of its current leisure/tourism industry schemes atMIPIM Horizons: Abu Suma,the 10 million sq m touristdestination on 1.7 km ofshoreline south of Hurghadaon the Red Sea; and the520,000 sq m Hill View hoteland leisure complex, also onthe Red Sea at Marsa Alam.

“We are one of the biggest de-velopers in Egypt,” said thecompany’s marketing execu-

tive, Deanna Abu Seda. “AtMIPIM Horizons, we wereshowcasing our expertise and

capabilities to a wider audi-ence and looking to makegood international contacts.”

Al Arabia: promoting a 10 million sq m resort

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HOUSING options are improvingfor the inhabitants of Bucharest.Cyprus-based L P Ellinas Groupis one of the companies planningto provide high-quality modernresidential stock to the Roman-ian capital.As well as projects in centralBucharest, the company is plan-ning three developments inCrevedia, 24 kms north west ofthe city. Taken together, thesethree schemes form the basis ofwhat will be virtually a new city,according to Loucas Ellinas, thecompany’s chairman and CEO. There is strong demand for

housing in Bucharest because ofthe shortage of supply and thecity’s dense population, Ellinassaid, adding that his companyexhibited at MIPIM Horizons inorder to meet investors andproperty companies interested

in joint ventures. L P Ellinas is already workingwith the Piraeus Bank. “We own4 million sq m in the [Crevedia]area and, as well as buildingprojects, we are selling land,”Ellinas said.

When in Romania, build housingL P Ellinas: buildingin Bucharest

DEVELOPER Mandarine Groupis responding to the demand forall types of residential propertyin Morocco.The Franco-Moroccan company’smost important investments and

projects are in Morocco, where itis developing a series of resi-dences and hotels targeted at allsectors and located in all parts ofthe country.“In Morocco, there is great demand

for residential property, both for so-cial housing and, increasingly, forupmarket houses, second homesand holiday homes,” said Man-darine’s general manager, OmarEssakalli. “The Moroccan banks canfinance the projects. They have notbeen exposed to any toxic assets, sothere is no problem with liquidity.”Foreigners are increasingly look-ing to Morocco for residences,Essakalli noted.Essakalli described MIPIM Hori-zons as “a great idea”, adding: “Wetrust it. We identified many oppor-tunities that we will now follow up.”Mandarine: responding to Morocco’s demand for housing

• FUTURE REAL ESTATE, based in Bucharest,Romania, had two missions at MIPIM Hori-zons. The first was to attract investors andpartners to the 60 ha Flamingo Park devel-opment, which will provide 1,000 residentialunits in the northern part of Bucharest. Thesecond was to promote its range of timber-framed houses. Due to the increasing levelof demand for the latter, the company hasnow established a subsidiary in France. “A conventionally built house will take fourmonths to build,” said the company’s CEO,Marian Tomescu. “Our competitive advan-tage is that we deliver in six to eight weeksand cost 20% less.”

• MAYFAIR DEVELOPMENTS claims to be oneof the first foreign companies to developprojects in Morocco. “We first became in-volved in the Moroccan state’ssocial-housing programme,” said the UK de-veloper’s sales and marketing manager,Jesus Jaen Pareja. “As a fast-growing coun-try, Morocco is committed to a crashprogramme of housing supply.”In recent years, Mayfair has moved into de-veloping private residential schemes in allsectors. “We currently have 10 projects underway across the country,” Jaen Paraja added.

• KLK IMMOBILIER was at MIPIM Horizons toprofile three residential projects in Tangier,Marrakech and Casablanca. The Moroccaninvestment and development group com-prises three founding companies: Softgroup,Chaimaa.z and RHI. Each combines theirforces to create villa complexes and familyvacation villages across Morocco, aimed atthe country’s fast-growing middle class.

KLK: aiming at Morocco’s middle class

••• RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT


World takes up residence inMorocco’s booming market

SC PERFECT CASA INTERMED,the Romanian real-estateagency, came to MIPIM Horizonsto promote two new develop-ments on Bucharest’s north side,one of which features 48 high-end apartments. According to thecompany’s CEO Jeana Dragomir,the development takes the ex-pression ‘turn-key’ to its literal

conclusion: you arrive with yourluggage and everything else isprovided. The project is due forcompletion in June 2009. “MIPIM Horizons was very good forour image,” said PR officer CatalinaBineata. “We made contact withsome very important people,even though we didn’t concludea deal during the actual event.”

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