KPMG's real estate advisory business is set to benefit from the continued appetite among cash-rich investors for assets in Europe, Stephen Barter told PropertyEU in an exclusive interview. He sees opportunities opening up in particular for strategic alliances between big investors and operating partners in different parts of the world.

KPMG's real estate advisory business is set to benefit from the continued appetite among cash-rich investors for assets in Europe, Stephen Barter told PropertyEU in an exclusive interview. He sees opportunities opening up in particular for strategic alliances between big investors and operating partners in different parts of the world.

KPMG has the capacity to assist in structuring funding from such investors for more complex property transactions, he added. 'KPMG already has strong relationships with many leading sovereign wealth funds, major institutions, and high net worth individuals. It’s not so much about leasing or selling buildings which I think is still the prerogative of many agents. Nor is it about the very substantial capital market transactions which may still be the domain of the investment banks. There is a bigger space opening up between what those two groups do, such as creating strategic partnerships between SWFs and operating partners in different parts of the world, and structuring the funding for more complex property transactions.'

Barter joined accountancy and consultancy group KPMG as chairman of its real estate advisory practice in March after three years as UK CEO of Qatari Diar, the property development and investment arm of the Qatar sovereign fund. The full interview appears in the April edition of PropertyEU Magazine. Click on the link below to subscribe: