2010AWARDS & AnnuAL REVIEW - PERE

(L to R) Bernard Phang and Peter Pereira Gray
The 2010 investment model
with fundraising as difficult as it was in 2009, picking
the correct investment vehicle was the topic du jour
at PERE’s annual conference in london
As LPs and GPs alike looked to the future, many wondered exactly what real
estate investment structures would work best: traditional commingled funds,
club deals, separate accounts or direct investing. The answer, it turned out, depended
upon who was asked.
Keynote speaker Bruce Flatt, chief executive officer of Brookfield Asset Management,
said the Toronto-based firm’s investment club – the Brookfield Real
Estate Turnaround Consortium – was a product of 2009’s dire fundraising environment.
With many investors “retrenching and worrying about issues they
had in their [existing] funds”, Brookfield decided to “try something different,”
he explained, adding that the opportunities earmarked for the club would “never
fit a [traditional fund].”
Later, in a break from traditional panels, PERE also staged its popular “Big
Debate.” Volker Wiederrich of advisory firm Swisslake and Keith Breslauer of
Patron Capital argued in support of fund investments, while Claus Stenbaek of
Keyhaven Capital Partners and Jos Short of Internos Real Estate opposed them.
PERE FORuM | EuROPE
Bruce Flatt
Ted Leary
Claus Stenbaek Volker Wiederrich