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New Mipim director Filippo Rean tells PropertyEU that the fair is widening its offer to investors who are set to make a comeback. PropertyEU: What has changed in the 2011 edition compared to last year and how does this reflect overall real estate market conditions?

Rean: The investment theme will take centre-stage this year as we are seeing increased interest among investors to participate at Mipim. New companies and financial institutions such as AG Real Estate, GE Capital Real Estate, Pramerica and Unicredit Group-Hypovereinsbank are coming back to Mipim as exhibitors. This is a positive sign of their willingness to seek greater visibility and reflects investors’ more active strategies as they search for international real estate opportunities.

Mipim has always mirrored what happens in the marketplace. With the crisis of the past two years the fair has seen visitor numbers stabilise while during the peak of the market the number of participants doubled. Today, the return of a number of investors is a sign of increasing optimism in the industry.
In order to meet this group’s needs, several sessions will be devoted to analysing the development strategies of various investor categories. For example, there will be one session on major German investors, and another on experts in Islamic finance law. Yet another session, co-organised by Anrev, will concentrate on Asian investors targeting international markets. Furthermore, the conference will provide an overview of countries such as Poland, Russia, Central Europe, Italy, and France from a real estate investment standpoint.

PropertyEU: What will be the main theme this year?

Rean: Besides investment, we intend to look more at the interaction between real estate and the overall economy. The credit crisis has shown the importance of keeping an eye on developments on the macroeconomic front. Today more than ever, it is essential for real estate stakeholders to have a clear vision of the global economic outlook when building their development strategies. That is why we are giving Mipim participants an opportunity to interact with leading global economic analysts. This year we have invited Nouriel Roubini to talk about global economic prospects and their impact on real estate.

PropertyEU: Which other topics will be highlighted?

Rean: We are increasing our focus on Asia, especially China. Many of our clients are studying developments in these markets and in order to satisfy their needs we are bringing in extra experts to talk about the market outlook. Another theme is how Asian capital looks at Europe and the US. We are planning a dedicated one-day event which will gather the Asian community, featuring an Asian lunch, a session on China and a session entitled ‘Asian capital: regional plans, global ambitions’.

Furthermore, we have elected the UK as our Country of Honour this year, hosting a dedicated series of conferences on Wednesday 9 March. Since the launch of Mipim in 1990, British real estate companies have understood and supported the idea of an international gathering of property executives and the importance of developing their business beyond national borders. The decision to pay tribute to the UK is a recognition of the vital role the UK has played in the promotion of cross-border investment.

The full interview appears in the March edition of PropertyEU Magazine. Click on the link below to subscribe