Mingtiandi Leads Outbound Panel at Hong Kong Forum

Mingtiandi’s Michael Cole (left) was joined by Janet Li of Towers Watson, Charles Ma of China Vanke, Hing Yin Lee of Ping An Trust and Young Wuk Chai of Samsung SRA Asset Management at the event

With cross-border real estate investments from China heading past $15 billion per year for the first time in 2015, last week’s PERE Global Investor Forum event in Hong Kong attracted a crew of industry heavyweights to discuss industry trends and track the biggest players in this growing trend.

At the event, which was organised by industry journal Private Equity Real Estate (PERE) and held on November 3^rd and 4th, Mingtiandi’s Michael Cole led a panel featuring executives from China Vanke and Ping An Insurance. During the discussion the representatives of two of China’s biggest cross-border investors revealed details of their latest acquisitions in developed markets, as well as their favored strategies as we head into 2015.

In all, the conference, which featured discussions and presentations on which strategies and locations investors should be most aware of in 2016, attracted more than 100 industry professionals from companies such as Blackrock, CPPIB Asia and Singapore’s GIC.

Mingtiandi Leads Discussion on Investor Strategies

Participants discussed some of 2015’s largest cross-border investments, including Ping An’s Boston deal and Vanke’s first London acquisition

At the Investor Forum, the Mingtiandi-led session featured Charles Ma, Head of Head of Global Strategy for Investments and Business Development at China Vanke; Hing Yin Lee, Executive Director for Overseas Real Estate Investment at Ping An Trust; Young Wuk Chai, Senior Managing Director at

Samsung SRA Asset Management; and Janet Li, Director, Investment Services for Greater China at advisory firm Towers Watson.

During the hour-long talk Vanke’s Ma explained how the prominence of, and liquidity in, US gateway markets such as San Francisco and New York have helped propel the developer’s early investments in those cities, and how it now expects to spread its investments further in 2016.

Lee, who has played a key role in the Ping An team that has already bought billions of dollars of assets in the US and the UK, discussed the priorities driving decision-making for mainland insurers.

In particular, Lee predicted that Ping An – which has a strong real estate division of its own – would be ready to take on additional development projects in markets such as the US and the UK, as rising prices compress yields on stabliised assets in core markets. Already this year, Ping An teamed with competitors China Life to commit the majority of the capital for a $500 million project in Boston, which has yet to break ground.

Catch Mingtiandi at MIPIM Asia Next Month

In addition to appearing at the PERE event, Mingtiandi will be headed back to Hong Kong next month for MIPIM Asia on December 1^st and 2^nd.

During the MIPIM event, Mingtiandi’s Michael Cole will moderate a panel discussion on logistics opportunities in Asia on December 2^nd, as well as a being one of the featured speakers in a discussion of new mall developments in Asia Pacific on December 1^st.

Last year MIPIM Asia attracted more than 500 attendees in Hong Kong, with organisers targetting even larger attendance for this year’s event at the Grand Hyatt hotel in the city’s Wanchai district.