We couldn’t have planned it better, but it is actually a happy coincidence that the Mipim issues of PropertyEU and our Dutch sister publication PropertyNL both carry an interview with a senior executive at ING Real Estate Finance.
For our Mipim issue, PropertyEU spoke to ING REF’s global head Annerie Vreugdenhil, who brought us up to date on how the only independently surviving unit of former real estate giant ING Real Estate is faring in the post-crisis era.
Like most of its peers, ING REF was hit hard when the global financial crisis erupted in 2008, but after seeing its new lending book in 2016 broadly match its strong performance in 2015, ING REF is clearly back on the front foot.
Green lending gains ground
ING REF has not only bounced back, it is pioneering an innovative sustainable real estate financing programme in its home market, we learned from an interview with the bank’s Dutch head Peter Göbel.
'As a bank, we believe it is vital that steps are taken to make real estate more sustainable,' Göbel told PropertyEU/NL. 'We also believe it makes business sense for both the bank and our clients. “Green” buildings are the future, “brown” buildings are not.'
The interviews with Göbel and Vreugdenhil illustrate how much has changed in real estate financing since the crisis. As our new FinanceWatch editor Jane Roberts notes in the inaugural edition of this magazine - which will also be available at Mipim - real estate debt has not only been the biggest financial story of the last 10 years, it is ‘rehabilitated’ to the extent that it has become one of the ‘new’ ways for pension funds and insurance companies to access real estate.
Borrowers' A-Z of European lenders
While ING REF is pioneering green lending in its home market, its UK peer Lloyds Bank has broken new ground with a £1 bn commitment to loans aimed at improving clients' building efficiency, Jane reports in the March edition of FinanceWatch.
The initiative works by awarding a margin discount on loans of up to 20 basis points, with the cost reduction funded from the £1 bn. They are so-called 'green' loans because Lloyds Bank supports borrowers that meet a set of criteria woven into their agreements, depending on how much energy efficiency they can achieve, Richard MacDpowel, relationship director at Lloyds Commercial Real Estate, said.
Lloyds and ING REF are two of the players highlighted in our Borrowers' A-Z of the Top 50 real estate lenders in Europe. But that's not all we're bringing to Mipim next week. FinanceWatch is just one of the two new publications from the PropertyEU stable that we are launching at Mipim. The other is CapitalWatch, edited by private equity specialist Robin Marriott.
Fund manager strategies and emerging managers
With Trump and a changeable Europe, there has never been a more exciting time to examine how capital is accessing European real estate, Robin writes in his leader in the inaugural edition of his publication. CapitalWatch covers a lot of ground in its first issue from fund manager strategies, emerging managers and the 10 super themes that are uppermost in the minds of investors and which will influence their thinking in 2017.
CapitalWatch also offers a comprehensive section on fundraising data and analysis in cooperation with the leading data provider in the industry, Preqin. Too much to detail here, but one interesting statistic should be noted. As of January, there were 120 funds targeting Europe. That's more funds than for any January going back to at least 2010, Robin writes in his leader. 'This comes despite uncertainty regarding geopolitics as elections loom in France, the Netherlands and Germany, and with British members of parliament voting through Article 50 for the Brexit.'
Robin compares the inaugural edition of CapitalWatch to a movie trailer. There are going to be many twists and turns, and the aim is for CapitalWatch to be there to highlight them with the next issue due later this year. The same is true of FinanceWatch and all our other publications.
Pick up a free copy!
Pick up your free copies of PropertyEU, FinanceWatch, CapitalWatch as well as the latest edition of Top 100 Investors if you're at Mipim next week. Or contact our subscriptions desk to receive one now. We look forward to your feedback on these two new initiatives as well as our plans to expand our coverage of the European real estate market in all its facets with a weekly edition drawing on the expertise of our expanded team.
Judi Seebus
Editor-in-chief PropertyEU
