'Arab capital seeking opportunities in Southeast Europe'

Arab property investors may set their sights on countries in Southeast Europe as opportunities dry up in Germany and the UK and the US also loses its attraction, says Nico Veldhuis, former director of Turkey at Dutch developer Multi who recently set up his own real estate consultancy, Veldhuis & Partners.

Speaking to PropertyEU at Mipim in Cannes, Veldhuis said Arab investors will initially look at Turkey, which has emerged from the downturn and whose banks were hit less hard by the financial crisis than those in other European countries after ridding themselves of bad debt in their own financial crisis at the turn of the century. In his former role at Multi, Veldhuis was responsible for the development of a number of large shopping centres, mainly in Turkey. He left the company because its US parent, Morgan Stanley, decided to focus more on asset management, resulting in a difference of opinion on strategy.