Report from 1st joint Cornell - ESSEC Annual Forum on Commercial and Hospitality Real Estate

On June 5th, Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and ESSEC Business School jointly organised the first Annual Forum on Commercial and Hospitality Real Estate at the Hilton Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. Led by Professor Dan Quan of the Centre for Real Estate at Cornell University and Professor Michel Baroni of Essec Business School, nearly 100 alumni and other industry executives from the real estate, banking and financial sectors participated in a lively debated on current developments in hospitality finance and real estate.

In the first session, entitled “Real Estate Capital in Crisis: Where is the money?”, panellists Mark Wynne-Smith, CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle EMEA, Etienne Dupuy, Deputy Managing Director BNP Paribas Real Estate Investment Services, Remi Rein, Deputy Director, Atisreal Hotels - BNP Paribas Real Estate and Cris Broderick, Kingdom Holdings discussed the implications of the global financial crisis and how it has prompted major changes in the financing and funding of commercial real estate transactions. Pointing out that traditional sources of funding have disappeared, the panel discussed how a limited number of transactions are still occurring, abet at a much higher cost of capital. Speakers also speculated that economic recovery is likely to come to the European and Asian markets before stability returns to the US.

Following an introductory presentation by Professor Daniel Lebret of Cornell, Christian de Kerangal, Managing Director IPD France and Southern Europe, Christian Aufsatz, Senior Vice President, Structured Finance / CMBS, Moody's Investor Services and Professor Fabrice Barthélémy , Professor of Economics at Université de Cergy Pontoise debated how the concept of derivates could be extended to hospitality real estate. While property derivatives have established markets in the UK, France and Germany, the development of a similar index for the lodging sector would provide investors with another possibility to manage their risk. Two indices, one for Paris residential properties and the other for French lodging properties, were introduced during the session and their use and application debated.

Feedback from participants on the presenters and panels was very favourable, and plans are already underway to host a similar event in 2010.

For further information on the Annual Forum on Hospitality Real Estate or Essec’s educational programs, please contact Charles Luthi ([email protected], Tel: +33 1 34 43 31 73)

About Essec Business School: ESSEC Business School has trained business leaders since 1907. As one of France’s premier institutions, a grande école in the French educational system, ESSEC is esteemed for its highly selective admissions, wide range of quality business programs, innovation in business expertise and practices, vast alumni network, strong relationships with companies and the high quality and international scope of its faculty. ESSEC’s MBAs are accredited by AACSB and EQUIS. ESSEC run two education programs for the hospitality sector – the MBA in Hospitality Management (formerly known as IMHI), which has consistently been ranked the top graduate program in hospitality management in France, and the Hotel Executive Program (HEP), a management development program targeting high potential general managers.