Manila Good News: Asia Pacific REIT Partners speak at the REITs Asia Pacific Philippines Conference 2009
Firm News
December 2009
Manila, December 2009 – In a first-mover stance, several Asia Pacific REIT partners spoke at the REITs Asia Pacific Philippines Conference 2009 held on 30 September 2009 at The Heritage Hotel Manila.
Milton Cheng (Hong Kong, Head of the Asia Pacific REITs Group), Ashok Lalwani (Singapore, Capital Markets / US Securities), and Elizabeth Opeña (Manila, REITs Focus Group head) spoke on “REIT as a Regulated Product – Lessons Learnt from the Experiences of Other Asian REIT Markets.” Elizabeth also joined the panel discussion on “Structurers, Fund Managers and Advisory Roundtable: Deal Structures that Work for Foreign Investment in Real Estate in Philippines.”
Leo Dominguez (Manila, Corporate and Commercial Group) and Roy Melick (Sydney, Chair of the Global Real Estate Group) co-chaired the conference.
Milton and Elizabeth also joined Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) President Francis Lim, Ayala Land CFO Jaime Ysmael, Robinsons Land President Frederick Go, and Asian Public Real Estate Association (APREA) CEO Peter Mitchell in the press briefing that was arranged by the conference organizers. Representatives from the major broadcast networks and regional and local business publications were present at the briefing.
The REITs Asia Pacific Philippines Conference 2009, which was organized by the Pinnacle Group International of Singapore, was held in anticipation of the enactment of the REIT Act of 2009, the law providing for the legislative framework for real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the Philippines. At the time of the conference, a Congressional bicameral conference committee had just approved the consolidated REITs bill. The REIT Act of 2009 (Republic Act 9856) was enacted into law on 17 December 2009.
Panelists and speakers from the PSE, property developers Ayala Land and Robinsons Land, and investment banks Macquarie, Citibank, Standard Chartered, and ING, among others, shared their views on various topics relating to structured investments in the real property sector, such as “Strengthening the Competitive Asian REIT Landscape” and “How Safe is Asia as a Property Investment Haven Amidst Financial Turmoil and Market Volatility.” Close to 100 delegates from the real estate and investment banking sectors attended the full-day event.
The conference as well as the activities arranged by the Regional REITs Group and the regional and QT marketing teams around the conference were an excellent opportunity to showcase the Firm’s regional REIT expertise and market-leading practice. The REITs team had one-on-one meetings with property developers Ayala Land, Megaworld, SM Investments, and Ascendas; investment banks UBS, ING, Standard Chartered, and BDO; and property manager Jones Lang LaSalle. Pearl Liu and Felix Sy joined some of the meetings.
In addition to the conference and the client meetings, the AP REIT partners also conducted an internal PD training on REITs for QT lawyers from the Corporate and Commercial, Banking & Finance, and Tax Practice Groups.