25 minute read
FEATURE
Nicolas Kozubek, the new managing director of MIPIM Markets, talks to MIPIM News about his ambitions for the world’s favourite real estate exhibition
After four years of driving MIPIM’s evolution and expanding the kind of firms it represents as director of its proptech showcase, Propel by MIPIM, Nicolas Kozubek has been appointed managing director of MIPIM Markets. Nicolas talks to MIPIM News about how that experience has shaped his view of real estate, and where the future of MIPIM might lie.
What were the key lessons of managing Propel by MIPIM? Why is proptech so important in real estate today?
Nicolas Kozubek: Over these last three years, it has been a daily pleasure to work in the tech and innovation space. In this world, people love to question things, think about how they could be done in a different and perhaps better way; they are very transparent and love to learn from their peers. This genuinely collaborative approach is refreshing. Proptech folk clearly have some of the answers to the questions that the real estate industry is asking today, and sustainability is amongst the most important. On the other hand, you get to understand that tech is a means and not an end, and that establishing the right conversations, the right partnerships, and the right connections, cannot be done overnight. Perseverance and purpose are key. The market tends to illustrate the importance of proptech through funding volumes, which is quite limiting but always instructive. In 2021, private investment into the sector reached a record $32bn, according to the Center for Real Estate Technology and Innovation. That’s interesting, but I think it’s even more striking to see how many real estate companies communicate about the importance of tech and innovation. It has become a must, and even if we obviously need to differentiate communication from real ambition, it clearly says something about where real estate industry leaders are looking.
Can you share your professional journey that brought you to this stage in your career?
I have actually spent my entire professional journey in and around real estate. I started my career at Unibail-Rodamco (now Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield), where I stayed for nearly 10 years, with roles ranging from shopping-centre management on some major assets (Rosny 2 and Les Quatre Temps and CNIT in La Defense) to a
memorable experience in Sweden for the opening of Mall of Scandinavia. I finally left after one final year as project director in the Innovation Lab, where I started to plug in to everything tech and innovation. The most exciting aspect for me was to be able to get to know a vast range of stakeholders relating to the projects I was working
on: co-owners, tenants, local authorities, associations, media specialists, and, of course, colleagues. Trying to create an authentic common goal and vision, even where people and their interests are very different, is clearly what drives me — I love to foster collective motivation. I think that’s the reason why when Reed MIDEM (now RX France) contacted me in 2018 to fill the new position of MIPIM PropTech (now Propel by MIPIM) director. I also felt it was a natural move. I have spent the last few years developing the innovative arm of the MIPIM brand with impactful events in New York and Paris, that have finally led me to this new challenge. I am very excited!
What feedback have you received from clients about how they would like MIPIM to change? What are your ideas?
Over the past three years, people’s lives have changed in an unexpected and very profound way. So, getting closer to ‘normal’ — whatever that is — drives MIPIM-goers to seek a purpose. We do understand that spending a week on a business trip must come with the conviction that this is the right thing to do. I guess it’s a question of balance. That means giving our clients all the information and indications that help them assess the productivity of this week, while understanding that the best moments have an emotional resonance, and that drives decision-making too. So, we want to continue to explore all the different things that people can get out of MIPIM and amplify that as well. On another note, I want MIPIM to be as open as possible. Open to new ideas, new profiles, new generations. Same but different. But it’s easier said than done — time will tell!
Why is MIPIM still so vital for the real estate community?
There’s an obvious point that people need in-person connection, particularly after the last few, disjointed years; everyone understands that. But when it comes to MIPIM, in particular, we have an amazing opportunity to make this happen. This is also the result of the incredibly hard work involving hundreds of RX France employees throughout the years, and faith from our business partners. But it’s hard to find another place where so many people who have a role in the built environment spend time together. It’s a unique chance — and a responsibility. I believe that participants understand this, and, beyond business, lean toward taking this opportunity to move the needle in the right direction.
New MIPIM managing director Nicolas Kozubek
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news
A masterclass in assets
Allianz Real Estate’s Megan Walters A BROAD array of real estate talent provided MIPIM delegates with drilled-down insights during yesterday’s panel in the Agora Suite entitled Real Estate Much More Than An Asset: Prime Real Estate, Location Or Features. After sharing thoughts on the Ukraine crisis, Ben Bannatyne, president, Prologis Europe, kicked off the discussion by talking about challenges in the industrial logistics space. Megan Walters, global head of research, Allianz Real Estate provided insights into the impact of city density on the use of office assets post-COVID. Marielle Seegmuller, operations director, Covivio, outlined trends around changing usage in office space. Lucas Fiuzza, business director, Apex-Brazil said that changes in government rules meant Brazil is open for business, with the leisure sector likely to enjoy robust growth.
Benoy looks forward to the new ‘caring’ office
Benoy’s Tom Cartledge
TOM Cartledge, CEO of international architecture firm Benoy and its sister companies, is at MIPIM as the company considers what the long-term recovery of the office environment will be, and what retail podiums will look like. Cartledge said the pandemic had accelerated emerging trends. “We’ve picked up a number of office developments for example, where the clients are asking us to apply a retail concept and thought process to it, which is very much about the care and attention of the consumer and the person using that.” According to Cartledge, the other big shift has been the awareness of the environment and how that is playing out in different ways in different places. “Perhaps in China and India there’s still a race for growth and the pressure on the market to develop more product means that we’re probably still not being as sustainable in those markets as we could be,” he said.
Egypt is seeking investors for nation’s new cities
WITH its population growing by around 2.5 million annually, Egypt is at MIPIM aiming to attract investors and real estate funds to help the country develop its 45 new cities, said Khaled Mahmoud Abbas, deputy minister of housing, utilities and urban communities. Many of the new cities are located within 5km of existing towns and cities and the Egyptian government has spent the last few years creating the infrastructure ahead of development. “The most important thing is to improve the quality of life of Egyptians,” Abbas said. “We need to build everything, but we are starting with commercial and industrial zones in each city to create employment, so that people can move. That provides us with the opportunity to then upgrade the infrastructure in the old cities.” The aim is to have much of the work complete by 2030 and the initiatives are country-wide
Deputy minister of housing, utilities and urban communities, Khaled Mahmoud Abbas
Powering up for investors
CARDIFF has more than £10bn of investment opportunities that are ready and waiting, according to Ken Poole, head of economic development at Cardiff Council, who said he was enjoying being back to face-to-face meetings at MIPIM. “We are delighted to be back at MIPIM and have the opportunity to present to investors,” he said. Investment projects are available across a number of sectors, from office to mixed schemes to leisure and manufacturing. They also include the decommissioned Aberthaw power station in the Vale of Glamorgan, bought earlier this month by the Cardiff Capital Region. Poole said the imminent launch next year of the region’s South Wales Metro system was providing another impetus for growth. “That infrastructure will make a massive difference, attracting investment and making it easier to travel. It’s the first time a transportation project has been seen as a regeneration project. This dream we had 10 years ago is now coming to fruition.” “Previously Cardiff has been the catalyst but now we are looking at growth across the region,” said Nicola Somerville, head of business development and inclusive growth at Cardiff Capital Region.
news Don’t believe the hype over hybrid, Bradley Baker warns
SUGGESTIONS that the office sector will suffer significantly as a result of a continued culture of home working are a “knee-jerk” response, the head of a major London developer has said. Addressing a busy workshop session at MIPIM on Tuesday, Bradley Baker, chief executive of CO-RE London, said that industry analysts and professionals were overstating the potential impact of the new hybrid model of working in which staff split their time between home and the office. “When COVID happened there were a lot of commentators saying ‘This is the end of the office, office is dead,’” he said. “I do think there’s often a kneejerk reaction to these events. “Younger people need mentoring. They need to learn. The research we’ve done implies that there is a future for offices but they need to be more engaging and to give staff a reason for coming into the office.
Leesman’s Tim Oldman (left), Beverley Kilbride of LaSalle Investment, Larissa Lapschies of Immobilienjunioren, Bradley Baker from CO-RE, and Cushman & Wakefield’s Tugra Gonden= “If you’re building a building with lots of character, and ESG at its heart, that’s what an occupier will want.” Baker’s comments came during the workshop session, The Office Uprising: Innovating To Bounce Back, where he was one of the expert panelists. Beverley Kilbride, head of transactions & asset management Europe at LaSalle Investment Management, said that large firms are increasingly looking to be based in an “emblematic HQ” to stand as a symbol for the company. “It’s about what a particular company wants to do in their space,” she said. “If you’re drawn to this inspirational office space that’s a really important factor. It won’t overcome the locational challenges but it’s certainly part of the thought process for occupiers.” Also speaking on the panel was Tim Oldman, founder and chief executive of employee workplace experience specialist Leesman, who said that as a result of the pandemic the “power is with the employee” as never before. The shift, he said, contains a warning that all employers must heed in the future. “Employees have been gifted something in March 2020 which was trust,” he said. “If that trust is withdrawn then those people just won’t come back. We’re going to have to start listening to the employee about what they need.”
Real estate should focus on built-in wellbeing
mini-city. The environmental awareness of clients is accelerating and expectations are growing quite rapidly. Integrating these values generates a subliminal, but strong sense of well-
IN TODAY’s conference session, Hospitality & Commercial Real Estate: How Nature Trends Hospitality & Amenity Issues (Sale Debussy, 09.00), panelists — including architects and real estate professionals — will look at how to take into account biodiversity and the relationship between humans and nature in living spaces. The conference is organised by IBPC, a French association promoting urban biodiversity, and which aims to gather the support of all forward-thinking actors within the urban space, real estate and all those living in an urban environment. Today IBPC has 85 members, including four architectural firms, major French corporate groups including French bank Groupe Caisse des Depots, Gecina, Eiffage, Bouygues, Vinci, Altarea Cogedim, LPO (Blue bird Network), and a number of groups from outside of France and the city of Paris. “It’s vitally important for investors, and the real estate sector at large, to come to grips with the importance of these changes,” founder of Global Concept and panelist Michel Gicquel said. “A hotel is very often like a
IBPC and Global Concept’s Michel Gicquel being for those working in and using these facilities. In short, the integration of nature in all our living spaces is irreversible. The same goes for the office space of tomorrow.”
news Henley: seeing opportunity where others see problems
LONDON-based investment firm Henley is at MIPIM “hungry to invest” said Justin Meissel, chief investment officer and managing director, Europe. Having established a strong track record in delivering
Henley Investments’ Justin Meissel returns on its investments, he explained that a core strength of the company is that “it selects opportunities where perhaps others are shying away”. Meissel said Henley is interested in “all the main food groups as well as emerging opportunities such as logistics, data, health, student and storage. But the asset type is probably less important than our strategy, which we call ADD for shorthand — arbitrage, distress and dislocation. The real question is ‘can we use our expertise to add value?’” By market, Henley is primarily active in the US, UK, Ireland, Germany and Poland, though there have also been forays into Spain and Portugal. During COVID, Meissel said the company played close attention to office and retail opportunities “because we knew those markets weren’t going to zero. We invested in office parks and retail assets where the locations were great but there was also potential for alternative use value if necessary.” Although Meissel said decision-making around assets is very nuanced, and therefore not prescriptive, he identified housing as a key point of interest: “We’re building around 14,000 houses in the UK, and would love to be doing more housing in Europe at the right price. One thing we have to be very careful right now is the impact of inflation on rental values.” One area Meissel said is a key differentiator for Henley is its Secure Income Property Unit Trust (SIPUT). Launched in 2017 to provide housing for vulnerable adults including those with learning disabilities, physical disabilities or mental health issues, the £500m (€595m) ESG-themed fund has brought many new homes to the social housing sector. “It’s an example of how we can generate a return for investors while creating a positive impact on society,” he said.
Resolution to target logistics
RESOLUTION Property is in Cannes to meet potential partners for joint venture investment projects and seek acquisition opportunities following a successful growth period at the firm. The London-based investor and developer has come to MIPIM on the back of a run of deals and acquisitions, primarily in the office sector but recently making its first move into logistics. Resolution Property’s Arnaud Benoit, head of investment for France and Benelux, spoke to MIPIM News about the company’s ambitions for future growth across a range of sectors including hospitality and logistics. “Right now we’re trying to acquire existing assets because that’s what our capital needs. On the back of those acquisitions it’s going to allow us to grow our team within Resolution, specialise in logistics and start doing ground-up development, more speculative things. “On the hospitality side the ambition is to team up with brands and operators, potentially acquire one of those, and do corporate deals and bring them under the Resolution umbrella,” he added. Last November, Resolution acquired a 40,000 sq m logistics hub in Woerden, in the Netherlands. Among its UK assets are the Royal Exchange Building in the City of London, overlooking The Bank of England, which the company acquired in 2018, and tech and media hub Alphabeta, bordering Shoreditch and The City. Resolution Property is majority owned by Chinese holding company Fosun International, which acquired a controlling share in 2015.
Resolution Property’s Arnaud Benoit
Resilience is the key factor for Finnish market
DESPITE the turmoil of the market globally, the Finnish property market has remained relatively stable, according to Anni Sinnemaki, deputy mayor of Helsinki who was speaking at MIPIM’s annual Finnish breakfast meeting. “The one thing I think is important from the point of view of the property market in Finland is that even recent extraordinary times have shown the resilience and stability of the Finnish society.” She said the country had “managed the pandemic times with unity”.
Hanna Kaleva, managing director of KTI Property Information presented some of the key highlights from KTI’s 2022 Finnish Property Market report at the event. She said the Finnish economy had recovered quickly in 2021, continuing to attract foreign and domestic investors. Transaction volumes rose by 15% compared to the previous year and total property investment grew by 11%. Residential was the most traded sector in 2021.
Helsinki’s deputy mayor Anni Sinnemaki
news French panelists are upbeat about post-COVID potential
FRANCE is back for business, said panelists at the ‘France: Towards A New Geographic Distribution?’ session at MIPIM on Tuesday. “We are back and investment is also back after two years of crisis,” said Eric Cosserat, CEO of Perial. The panel said there had been various impacts of COVID on the French market. “Ecommerce was boosted so the logistics appetite was boosted and we saw yields going down and demand up and more investors willing to go into this asset class,” said Jean-Philippe Camarans, president of Cushman & Wakefield EMEA Valuation & Advisory. “We also saw the work from home demand,” he said. “COVID transformed the way people are seeing offices so investors are looking to see ‘does it match future demand?’ This has driven yield compression for prime office buildings.” The panel said there had been a shift of people from Paris to other regions in France. “Many people want to live out of cities and the [trend of] moving to the Atlantic coast is stronger and deeper. We have stronger regions than we used to have,” Camarans said. Gecina’s executive director of investment and development, Romain Veber, said the market was also seeing a shift to large cities such as Lyon and Bordeaux. “Investors are willing to re-invest in residential and at the same time we are seeing big movements towards large regional cities,” he said.
Gecina’s Romain Veber (left), Perial’s Eric Cosserat, Cushman & Wakefield France’s Jean-Philippe Camarans and Notaires du Grand Paris’ Olivier Dagrenat
Hannover seeks partners for big housing project
THE STATE capital of Hannover is being showcased at MIPIM as part of the German pavilion for cities and regions. “We’re very happy to be back. It feels a bit like seeing friends and family,” said Kay de Cassan, head of the city’s economic department. “Over the years Hannover has become more and more attractive to international investors, and sharing with four other German cities [on the stand] works well.” Hannover’s major ongoing project is the Kronsrode housing scheme. “It is a very large residential development — the biggest in northern Germany — with 3,500 apartments, and we are looking for different partners for various parts
of it,” de Cassan said. Kronsrode comprises three independent residential quarters on 53 hectares and aims to provide a living experience closer to nature but with proximity to all of the state capital’s facilities. “On one side is the city, near to the Hannover Fair, so there is public transportation at its best, and on the other hand the countryside is close by,” added de Cassan.
UK officials point to positives
CRISIS? What crisis? An unashamedly positive view emerged from the panel discussion on the UK Real Estate Investment Scene. “The UK is more welcoming to investors than it has ever been,” Lucy Buzzoni, director for investment at the UK’s department for international trade, said. As well as listing some of the main government “levelling up” funds and business incentive schemes, such as freeports, she noted one niche area of global investment in UK: sound stages. Driven by London as a base for TV streaming services, €2.38bn is being invested in new capacity, she said. A similar positive message came from Mark Allnutt, senior managing director of Greystar Europe Holdings: “You can invest at scale, with the protection of the rule of law.” A particular area of opportunity was in new rental, he said. “There is a lack of provision of purpose designed and built rental communities. It is a great long-term hedge against inflation. The population is growing and the number of 18-year-olds is set to grow throughout the decade.” Sally Ronald, deputy director of investor relations at the international trade department, emphasised the housing and other opportunities outside London, driven by the UK government’s strategy for levelling up the regions, including transport infrastructure to improve connectivity. The importance of this was underlined by Alda Feriz, executive director of finance group Wimmer Family Office. “We are doing a project in the north of England but only because the support of the government has made it worthwhile,” she said.
Department for International Trade’s Sally Ronald Hannover’s Jonas Kirchberg and Kay de Cassan
news Investors turn to safer sectors as economic uncertainty builds
AXA IM’s Laurent Lavergne THE RESIDENTIAL, logistics and healthcare sectors are proving the most resilient so far in 2022, as continued fluctuations in the market drive investors to seek more certainty in real estate, according to a senior executive at AXA IM – Real Assets. Laurent Lavergne, global head of asset management and development at AXA IM, said that investors were showing a strong interest in sectors considered safer and steadier in the face of the political and economic upheavals taking place around the world, and those that benefit from emerging trends in retail. “It’s a time when so many things have happened to the industry,” he said. “The pandemic was shaking the industry in many asset classes. We’re highly focused on high-conviction assets, such as residential, logistics, life science and, more broadly, the healthcare sector. That was starting pre-pandemic and we’re still very much focused on those asset classes. We believe they will continue to be resilient despite this additional layer of uncertainty that is coming with the geopolitical situation, which itself raises some questions.” Lavergne added that the climate crisis and the past warnings that real estate must take its role in global decarbonisation efforts more seriously had been heeded by the industry, which is now fully conscious of the responsibility it bears. “The big theme [of MIPIM 2022] is ESG [environment, social and governance] and decarbonisation. It is high on the agenda for everyone. That’s extremely challenging. You’re adding new metrics to a world where people are speaking about yields, returns and rents.” He added that the world is now starting to see the warnings about global warming come true, with the higher incidents of serious natural events: “It’s no more about predictions. We’re starting to see that what the models were predicting is happening. We need to do something. The consciousness is a big step.” Globally, real estate and construction combined account for by far the largest proportion of carbon emissions. Some 45% of all carbon emissions stem from the construction and management of buildings around the world.
CEE workshop unpacks new patterns of trade
MIPIM’s Central Eastern Europe Focus on Tuesday afternoon drew a large, engaged audience to the Workshop Room. Following inspirational opening remarks from the mayors of Lithuanian capital Vilnius and Latvian capital Riga, delegates spent the rest of the session workshopping key sector-related themes. Session moderator Timothy Moonen, co-founder of The Business Of Cities, said the purpose of the workshop was to “debate the broad trends affecting investment in the region”. These include environment, social and governance (ESG), and digital disruption, “which are leading to new patterns of trade and logistics”. The CEE session was sponsored by Skanska, which also led one of five discussion groups. Katarzyna Zawodna-Bijoch, CEO of Skanska’s commercial development unit in CEE, said the pandemic and the Ukraine conflict did not change the fact that the region was benefitting from “strong fundamentals”, which continue to drive robust growth. Riga mayor Martins Stakis told delegates that the three Baltic territories might be small, “but they are highly-motivated, very adaptable and keen to embrace the digital economy”. His Vilnius counterpart, Remigijus Simasius, said that CEE would continue to grow because its population is “brave, efficient and free”. He drew attention to the fact that Vilnius’ strategy to attract FDI has just been recognised by fDi Intelligence, a division of the Financial Times. Other workshop leaders came from the Budapest Development Agency, the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency, Invesco and Cushman & Wakefield.
news Heitman adds trio of UK studenthousing assets to global portfolio
GLOBAL real estate investment management firm Heitman has acquired three UK student-housing assets — one fully occupied and two forward-funded developments — for approximately £70m (€83m). The deal is an off-market transaction with London-based student-housing developer Alumno Group. The assets are all located in close proximity to major universities and student populations. “We are pleased to work with a toptier developer such as Alumno Group on these high-quality student-housing assets,” said Caleb Mercer, Heitman’s managing director of European Real Estate Investment. “Despite COVID-19, purpose-built student accommodation remains in demand and has experienced steady occupancy gains since 2020. We expect that trend to continue as students seek greater convenience and higher quality of life.”
Heitman moves into student housing Gordon Black, Heitman’s senior managing director and portfolio manager, added: “With favourable supply and demand fundamentals, our investments in student-housing assets across the UK further diversifies our global portfolio with assets delinked from GDP, reflecting one of the key thematic strategies we are pursuing.” As Heitman executes its global strategy, Black says it will look to invest in accordance with three themes: “Smart diversification among traditional property types, convergence or capitalisation of maturing or mispriced property types, and delinked or defensive, which involves investing in assets with traits less tied to economic cycles.” David Campbell, founder and managing director of Alumno, added: “Working with such a well regarded international investment company as Heitman is a significant milestone for our company and we look forward to developing a long-term partnership.”
Berlin Hyp backs Regensburg office
BERLIN Hyp, which specialises in large-volume real estate financing, is providing a loan of €70m for a new office building in the German town of Regensburg. The loan has been put together in partnership with Sparkasse Landshut, Sparkasse Rottal-Inn and another Sparkasse savings bank to finance a new office complex in the historic university town. After Berlin Hyp initially took over the full underwriting process, the savings banks participated in the overall financing with a total of €30m using the S-Group product ImmoBar. The property is the final construction phase of DBV Businesspark, which is being built in the Dornberg area of Regensburg for multi-tenant office rental. The total rental area of the property is approximately 20,000 sq m. In addition, the park includes a hotel, rented to Premier Inn, while an underground car park is also planned.
Greenman Open finances retail park acquisition
GREENMAN OPEN, one of the largest food retailfocused investment funds in Germany, has signed a seven-year €19.5m debt deal with BayernLB to finance the acquisition of a retail park in Sonneberg, Germany. The asset is currently anchored by Marktkauf, part of the EDEKA Group and one of Germany’s leading food retailers. Other tenants include Moebel Boss, CF Fitness and the Danish retail chain JYSK. Neil Hennessy, head of debt capital markets at Greenman, said: “We are delighted to sign this new deal with BayernLB, a leading commercial real estate financier in Germany, adding a further asset to our growing Open portfolio”. The Open fund currently has of €1.01bn under management and invests exclusively in German food-anchored retail parks, hybrid centres and neighbourhood centres.
The latest phase of DBV Businesspark in Regensburg The retail park in Sonneberg, Germany
