Conference program
Wednesday Night 23rd September 2009
19:00 CEDEM Gala Party!
COMO Mediterranean Restaurant & Café | Václavské náměstí 45 | Prague 1
Wednesday 23rd September 2009
08:00
— Breakfast presentation on Regional Investment Trends by CB Richard Ellis Research Team
09:00 – 09:30 — Keynote speech
09:30 – 10:30 — The Big Picture
It's easy for people in property to focus on rents, vacancy rates, interest charges and yields. But these are all functions of the regional and global economy. This session will feature an in-depth presentation from a leading European analyst followed by an extended period for discussion with the audience.
10:30 – 11:30 — Investment: Is Central & Eastern Europe all sub-prime now?
Will a 100 – 150 bps fall for prime assets be enough? To listen to a lot of the media, investments in commercial property in CEE were little more than a mirage fed by overly enthusiastic bankers. There may be no market for secondary assets here, and a limited one for prime, but that's the same the world over just now. What's the reality for those with investments already in place in CEE? How seriously are rental streams threatened at the moment? And what's the current thinking as to how far we are from hitting bottom?
11:30 – 11:45 — Networking Break
11:45 – 12:45 — The new face of development finance
With equity now at a premium and banks now sticking to strict conditions, securing financing has become almost the only thing that matters. Are these conditions here to stay, and if so, what are the implications for development and investment? Is there any prospect for alternative forms of financing appearing on the horizon?
12:45 – 13:45 — Lunch
13:45 – 14:45 — CEE's Leasing markets – 20:20:20 vision
A comprehensive snapshot of Central Europe's that will give three 20 minute overviews of the leasing markets in the retail, office and logistics sectors. These up-to-date presentations will look not just at demand for new space, but crucially, at the pressure that economic weakness is putting on existing tenants. A digital version of the presentations will be made available to audience members only.
14:45 – 15:45 — Distress, real and imagined
Banks have been in rush to foreclose on loans, but it's too early to tell whether this is a good sign, or a sign of denial. There are great war chests of equity being amassed to take bad loans and troubled assets off the banks' hands, but so far there's been little to buy. Are loan agreements simply in better shape in CEE than elsewhere? Or will time and an eroding economy inevitably create the volume of opportunities investors are hoping for?
Thursday 24th September 2009
09:30 – 10:30 — Development: Tough luck, try again next year?
Is development stuck because bank conditions are simply too strict? Or because developers aren't willing to put more of their own money on the line? At some point, supply of office, residential and logistics space will begin to get scarce. When are we likely to get there? What do past crises tell us in terms of whether cranes move in before recessions end, or only after?
10:30 – 11:30 — Logistical nightmare: Survival strategies for industrial developers and end users
The credit crisis hit the industrial sector first last year, and there's been precious little evidence that things have gotten any better since. How much demand are logistics operators seeing for their trucks, and are there any signals of a significant rise in requirements for new space? Or are we in store for downsizing? How are park owners keeping their tenants on board? This panel will feature three major industrial developers and a trio of top logistics companies to discuss survival strategies.
11:30 – 11:45 — Networking Break
11:45 – 12:45 — Current debt resolution practice in CEE
Debt resolution has virtually no history in Central and Eastern Europe's property markets, but the financial and economic crisis has created a need for such expertise almost overnight. Consultants from a wide range of disciplines have been putting together teams and pulling together resources in order to meet the demands of banks, developers and investors who need guidance on how best to proceed, or how to prepare for eventual problems. This panel will bring together some of the top practitioners in the field of CEE debt resolution for a crucial discussion on how the property sector is dealing with this new problem.
12:45 – 13:45 — Lunch
