In the first half of 2013, 70% of all Pension Funds and Sovereign Wealth Funds deals on the European market were concerned with Equity and Expertise structures. Since 2008, the number of such investments on the commercial property market has also increased. In the result, the importance of careful selection of specialist operating partners, who earlier were replaces by generalist investment managers, is also growing.
We are seeing more and more examples of clients coming to us for advice on selecting “best in class” operators to implement their business plans. This is most notably the case where intended strategies incorporate significant value added elements requiring sector or geographic expertise. We are also currently advising a number of operators seeking co-investment capital for either their existing assets or target acquisitions - says Rory Mepham, Head of Jones Lang LaSalle Corporate Finance CEE.
Equity and Expertise joint venture model basically means that the equity contributor starts cooperation with an expert, who has extensive knowledge about a given market, from the property sector. Examples of such activities include the cooperation of Allianz and ECE related to the purchase of Silesia City Center shopping centre and the consortium of NBIM and Prologis.