On 7th June 2016, the SMU Real Estate and Alternative Investment Alumni Group held its 3rd Industry Dialogue at the SMU Administration Building. In collaboration with ARA Asset Management and the SMU Office of Alumni Relations (OAR), the event saw more than 100 attendees interacting with senior management from ARA. ARA, a real estate fund and asset management firm, has 6 REITS and various private funds holding a regional portfolio spanning across Asia and Australia. It has a total of S$30bn of AUM. Mr Yeo See Kiat (CEO, Suntec REIT), Mr Daniel Cerf (CEO, Cache Logistic Trust) and Mr Alvin Loo (Director, Group Business Development) were panelists on the forum, which was moderated by Quek Fujin, president of the alumni group.
The panelists covered a wide range of topics, ranging from the history of REITS, investment strategy and right down how to manage a retail mall. Remembering the tough times during the Global Financial Crisis in 2009, See Kiat shared his personal experience of how he managed to convince the banks to refinance Suntec REIT, and how he managed to instill confidence in real estate capital markets during a time when major US banks such as Lehman Brothers went down. Touching upon the realities of government regulation in real estate, Daniel shared with the audience how to turn a challenge into an opportunity by looking for overseas acquisitions when the Cache Logistic Trust was caught in local market doldrums. Alvin touched upon investor relations, and gave the audience an idea of how institutional investors work and what investment considerations are typically considered from a fund management point of view.
The attendees were a diverse lot, while some were from real estate, there were also many alumni keen to understand more about the industry and considered it for a career change. They asked interesting questions during the post forum QnA session, ranging from competition from online retailers to how the US elections will impact real estate markets. The answer of the night came from Daniel, who said that if Donald Trump won, the world wouldn’t need to worry about itself anymore, let alone real estate!
All in all, it was an enjoyable night and both ARA guests and alumni attendees enjoyed themselves greatly. We will like to thank SMU Office of Alumni Relations Director, Associate Professor Low Aik Meng and Assistant Director of Alumni Relations, Adeline Bek for supporting the event. In addition, we also wish to extend our thanks to Judy Tan and Low Chiew Leng of ARA Group for coordinating with us and making the event a successful one.
For more photos from the event, visit the OAR Facebook album here.
This post-event article is submitted by the Real Estate and Alternative Investment Alumni Group.