Conference program
Wednesday Night 20th September 2006
19:00 Cocktail party !
Wednesday 20th September 2006
9:30 – 10:15 Ask the Anchors…
In today's rapidly maturing retail market, schemes can't succeed without the right anchor tenants to create excitement and footfall. This will panel will feature some of the biggest names in Central and Eastern European retail in a discussion of their strategy, how they perceive the market is changing, how they decide between two developments, how many stores they can open in smaller towns, and their expansion plans for existing and new markets.
10:15 – 10:55 Is the retail property investment industry in crisis?
Is volatility on real estate markets volatility changing the rules of the game? Should the rules of the game be changed? Can open ended funds continue to promise risk free investments, or does the narrative need to be changed? Is repositioning necessary?
10:55 – 11:15 Networking Break Sponsored by Eurohypo AG
11:15 – 11:45 The Prague Wrap: The biggest deals and the hottest schemes
11:45 - 12:30: Where's Europe's economy going?
12:30 – 14:00 Buffet Lunch
14:00 – 14:45 Code of Conduct for Central Europe: Best practice issues for agency and project management
The real estate agencies in Budapest took the first step in setting down a set of formal rules of best practice to govern their relations. While this has helped, most agree that the process needs to go further. In Warsaw, meanwhile, it's become clear that the debate needs to begin. What's stopping agencies in the region from agreeing on a code of conduct in the region?
14:45 - 15:40 Yields: The day of reckoning
The phenomenon of yield compression has virtually run its course in Central Europe. So with the cowboys heading east, what is the new generation of investors in prime property looking for? Are there still options for opportunistic funds to create value? Where will funds and investors find non-institutional properties they can bring up to institutional speed?
15:40 – 16:00 Networking Break Sponsored by Eurohypo AG
16:00 – 16:30 The Warsaw Wrap: The biggest deals and the hottest schemes
Even after rents bottomed out in Warsaw's office market, the eternal pessimists kept pointing at the huge supply figures in the city center when backing up their black predictions for vacancy rates. According to the latest figures, these doomsday predictions have proven incorrect, at least so far. Some are predicting that similar things could happen with Warsaw's retail sector, as not everyone agrees there's no room for new schemes. This panel will consider how developers and investors are likely to fare on the office and retail markets in Poland's capital with views from its most dynamic and forward-thinking players.
Thursday 21 st September 2006
9:30 – 10:15: Ask the developers…
Development ceased long ago to be a game for small players in Central and Eastern Europe to play. The office, retail and logistics sectors are now open only to those with the best teams, and the deepest pockets. This panel will feature the region's market leaders, who will answer probing questions about specific projects, how they perceive the changing development market, how they choose between buyers, and whether they actually believe prices they command for projects can continue to rise in the short term.
10:15 – 10:55 Bankrolling the Property Boom
Just as the fight over assets between funds has heated up dramatically over the past couple years, the banking sector is also being forced to react to the ever-growing competition on the CEE property markets. Are banks coming up with more creative and flexible ways to finance increasingly expensive transactions? In the rush by developers to build projects, have banks been too willing to offer non-recourse loans and spec financing? Panelists will exchange their views on current market conditions and on the likely trends for the future.
10:55 – 11:15 Networking Break Sponsored by Eurohypo AG
11:15 – 11:45 The Moscow Wrap: The biggest deals and the hottest schemes
For all of its potential, Moscow is a city that developers and investors are still trying to figure out. With 15 million people and billions of dollars of oil-generated cash flowing into the economy each year, conditions would seem ripe for the creation of a huge property bubble. But while dozens of office, retail and warehouse projects are planned, the barriers to entry, unsophisticated developers and an untransparent planning process are combining to keep matters under control for now. This panel will feature the Moscow's top players and analysts in a discussion of what to do, and what to avoid, in the Russian capital.
11:45 - 12:30: Hotel investments: The region's best kept secret
Around the region, investors are sinking money into new hotel facilities and operators are banging on the doors to get in. In reaction, existing hotels are being forced to invest to upgrade their levels of service. What does it take for hotels to make it today? Who are the biggest players looking for locations and where are the best opportunities?
12:30 – 14:00 Buffet Lunch
14:00 – 14:45 The Budapest Wrap: The biggest deals and the hottest schemes
14:45 – 15:30 CEE's Housing and Holiday Home Market
The British and the Irish are packing into budget airlines and heading for New Europe in search of flats in the region's capitals and holiday destinations. Without them, it's debatable if the market would even exist. But are they being extremely clever, or horribly naive? Are we watching a bubble in the making? Meet some of the developers and agencies in the thick of it and see them answer some straight questions.
