CB Richard Ellis has launched a real estate finance advisory service in Asia, headquartered in Singapore, CBRE Singapore managing director Pauline Goh told BT in a recent interview.
The business, headed by former Societe Generale investment analyst Alan Dalgleish, will be particularly valuable for clients during the current global credit crunch, when many Asian developers are looking for capital partners.
‘Particularly in this environment, there is an opportunity to match the requirements of those who have got capital - and it’s not all doom and gloom; there are plenty of players with capital - against those people who find themselves needing capital,’ Mr Dalgleish says.
Says Ms Goh: ‘We are in touch with over 20 funds (from US, Europe and Middle East) interested in Asia broadly. We are in position to point them in the right direction, which markets to go for, and at which point in time. So we could act as middleman to put the company needing the capital with the capital. In Asia, particularly in places like China, there are plenty of developers needing capital and we have lots of funds interested in putting money in China,’ Ms Goh said.
Other aspects of the new service in Asia include providing due diligence on behalf of potential investors keen on investing in real estate markets as well as in property funds. ‘This is a good time as any to start offering this service in Asia, because this is when companies do really need help. And we also want to position ourselves so we are ready for any recovery in the market,’ Ms Goh said.
Mr Dalgleish reveals that despite unprecedented turmoil in financial markets in the past few months, his unit has already clinched a few mandates.
One involves a party that would like to set up a fund to invest in a South-east Asian country. This will be a single-country fund but investing in multiple sectors of the property market within the selected country. ‘So we’ll give advice on establishing the fund, asset allocation, valuations etc,’ Mr Dalgleish says.
Another client is a foreign group specialising in shopping mall assets that is looking to invest in China. ‘So we’re assisting them with finding not just single assets but a long-term partnership with a Chinese developer (of malls),’ he adds. ‘The other area within the real estate finance team is that we are trying to advice corporates on sale and leaseback deals, in a more sophisticated way. What we do is to take a consulting approach to the transaction and look at its impact on the seller’s balance sheet, ensuring it will be compliant with international accounting standards,’ says the 47-year-old father of four kids who’s been working in Asia for over 20 years and who enjoys cooking.
Source : Business Times - 6 Dec 2008
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