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CRE Finance World Summer 2015
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hose of you actively engaged in CREFC activities in the
early to mid- 2000’s may recall that historically, CREFC’s
mission has been: “To promote the strength and liquidity
of commercial real estate finance worldwide.”
Due to the repercussions of the liquidity crisis on the CRE finance
industry and CREFC as an association our focus on executing
our mission on a global basis was largely suspended. However,
with the CRE finance markets health and vibrancy returned and
the organization’s balance sheet on strong footing, CREFC is
now in position to move forward with promoting the CREFC
mission worldwide.
CREFC’s objective is to bring its value propositions to the global
marketplace in a coordinated and collaborative way. We are seeking
to accomplish this through:
• Establishing the CREFC brand through participation in
global conferences;
• Collaborative execution with our CREFC affiliates in Europe
and Japan;
• The production of global commercial real estate finance
conferences and events;
• The publication and dissemination of CRE educational
primers and materials; and
• The establishment of global CREFC chapters in
re-emerging markets.
Establishing the CREFC Brand
This past March, CREFC President & CEO Steve Renna produced
and moderated one of the highest profiled panels at the Annual
MIPIM World Property Market Conference in Cannes, France on the
topic of global CRE finance markets. Steve, along, with Executive
Vice President Stacy Stathopoulos, also took advantage of the 93
countries represented at this real estate event to hold numerous
meetings with commercial real estate finance professionals from
various continents. These meetings facilitated the connection to and
understanding of CRE finance markets, companies and participants
all over the world. Similar meetings also were held during their trip
to London for the CREFC-Europe Spring Conference.
Facilitating Global Connectivity
CREFC is facilitating global connectivity on several fronts. We are
actively collaborating with international counterparts on global
regulations impacting structured finance as well as the overall
commercial real estate finance markets. Christina Zausner, CREFC
Vice President for Industry and Policy Analysis, is running point on
these efforts and is in communication with regulatory bodies such
as the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.
CREFC also is actively assessing future opportunities to host
international meetings and conferences on CRE finance that would
be attended and presented by CRE professionals from across the
globe, and co-hosted by our Europe and Japan affiliates. These
conferences will provide the platform from which the CRE finance
industry can associate and benefit from a multi-continent perspective
on markets, best practices, regulatory regimes, central banking
policy and more.
Promotion of Foreign Investment in U.S. Commercial Real
Estate Debt Products
Foreign investor demand for U.S. commercial real estate debt
products is increasing. However, understanding of U.S. markets,
debt products and their sponsors amongst foreign investors is
lagging. Investors benefit from dedicated conference programming
at which the lending community can educate investors on the
various CRE debt products.
To that end, CREFC recently partnered with MIPIM to provide a
cornerstone of the programming for their inaugural MIPIM Japan
Conference in Tokyo. This conference focused on investment into
Japan as well as outbound investment to the U.S. CREFC held a
s reception with investors that provided meaningful information on
U.S. CRE debt market investment to investors and created strong
business development opportunities for our members.
Creation and Publication of Educational Primers and Materials
With the release of its newly revised CMBS Educational Primer
this month, CREFC has laid the cornerstone of its E-Primer series
for global commercial real estate finance professionals. Additional
E-primers in the series are scheduled for release during the course
of 2015 and include: Multifamily Lending, High Yield and Distressed
Realty Assets, and Underwriting Principles.
T
CREFC’s Global Mission
Stacy Stathopoulos
Executive Vice President
CRE Finance Council
CREFC FOCUS