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2017 / iberian.propery // 13
ISSUE: TOP IBERIAN Investors //events
The approximately 20.000 visitors at Mipim were
also able to explore first-hand some of the major
projects planned for the Lisbon region, which in 2017
decided to reinforce its prominence at the trade fair.
The residential rent control program launched by
the municipality, the new Feira Popular de Lisboa
amusement park and Lisboa Water City were the
projects showcased not only in the region’s stand,
but also at the conferences and interventions that
included Portuguese participation.
Confirming that there is
“significant interest in Lisbon
among investors”,
the CEO of Invest Lisboa, Rui Coelho,
told Iberian Property that
“thiswas the fourth consecutive
year that we organised a Lisbon stand and, every year,
we have received increasing interest not only in terms of
the recognition of participants at Mipim, but also in the
number of private partners who join us”.
This year, aside
from the Lisbon Municipal Council and Baía do Tejo
with its Lisbon South Bay project, the stand for the
Lisbon region brought together several private partners,
namely the real estate developersVanguard Eagle and
Habitat Invest, the lawfirms Morais Leitão and Rogério
Fernandes Ferreira, the architecture firms Contacto
Atlântico andMatelier, and real estate consulting firms
B.Prime, Infante & Riu II – Portugal Investments Broker
and Castelhana Imobiliária.
Conferences drew hundreds of partic-
ipants to find out more about Spain &
Portugal
Included in the Mipim official agenda, the morning of
16 Marchwas the date chosen for the first international
conference organised by Iberian.Property. With the
title
“Is Lisbon the next city investment hot-spot?”
, the
session met with a full house and joined under the
same roof the Mayor of Lisbon, Fernando Medina, the
CEO of Baía do Tejo, Sérgio Saraiva, Pedro Coelho,
chairman of Square AM and Enrique Gracia, director
of Merlin Properties Socimi, as well as the managing
partner of B.Prime, Jorge Bota.
Promoting one of the largest urban renewal projects
planned for Iberia, according to the CEO of the firm
Baía do Tejo, this participation in Mipim
“is clearly pos-
itive. On an institutional level, I underline the presence
of the three mayors of the municipalities involved in
the Lisbon South Bay project, namely Barreiro, Seixal
and Almada, whose joint participation in Mipim with
the Mayor of Lisbon has sent a strong message of
the good relationship between the various entities
whose common goal is to make Lisbon a city that is
increasingly stronger and more competitive, equipped
to compete with other metropolitan areas in the world
that are also participating in this trade fair. Regarding
the actual development of the Baía do Tejo territories
under the Lisbon South Bay aegis, this has also been
a very positive experience”,
guaranteeing that the
“expressions of interest by investors both in office parks
and in the Cidade da Água (Water City) project have
been common here at Mipim”.
Still in the same morning and also to a full house, the
conference
«Why is Spain the newplace to invest?»
also
took place, organised by Gesvalt and Roca Junyent,
joiningmore than 200 professionals fromseveral parts of
theworld. Divided into two parts –UrbanTransformation
and Success Stories – the event included interventions
by Sandra Daza, managing director of Gesvalt, Enrique
Gracia, director of Merlin Properties, Javier García del
Rio, CEOof Solvia, JuanVelayos, CEOof Neinor Homes,
Javier Rodríguez Heredia, partner &generalmanager for
Europe ofAzora, Daniel Lacalle, economist and commis-
sioner for international investments at ThinkMadrid and
Roger Pl, Senior legal advisor at Roca Junyent.
This session emphasised the solidity of the Spanish
economy as a destination for international investment,
with the country offering good growth prospects in
the medium term. It also served as a platform for a
dynamic debate that presented not only the main
challenges facing real estate investors in Spain, but
above all the advantages offered in comparison with
other investment destinations in Europe.
Sharing their perspectives and experiences in different
segments of the propertymarket (offices, retail, logis-
tics, hotel and residential), these experts unanimously
agreed that this is the start of a new paradigm in
Spanish real estate, driven by the entry of newplayers
and a change in the behaviour of demand.
The
emergence
of new
players, from
increasingly
distant
origins
and with
increasingly
diversified
profiles, is
one of the
reasons for
the change
in paradigm
taking place
in capital
markets
in Spain.