Tenth Annual Kirkland Real Estate Private Equity Symposium

The Tenth Annual Kirkland Real Estate Private Equity Symposium, hosted in Kirkland's New York office, will take place Thursday, November 12, 2015 at 1:30 pm.

Kirkland welcomes Barry Sternlicht, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Starwood Capital Group, and Neil G. Bluhm, Managing Principal of Walton Street Capital, as the keynote speakers, with Roy March, Chief Executive Officer of Eastdil Secured as moderator.

This year's event includes two panels on various facets of real estate private equity. The first panel, "Real Estate Investment in Europe – Opportunities and Risks," will discuss the real estate investment environment in Europe from North to South and East to West, identifying those areas of opportunity in various markets and property types and the challenges of accessing them both through asset and portfolio transactions as well as opportunities for M&A transactions. Evolution of the NPL market will also be considered along with the availability and sourcing of both debt and equity for acquisitions.

The second panel is "Real Estate Investment in the United States – Making Deals in 2016." The U.S. commercial real estate market seems just right — demand for office, industrial and apartment space remains solid, and rent growth is increasing at a sustainable level. Yet investors need to be more nimble to find returns as increased capital flows from on-shore and off-shore sources continue to compress cap rates. The CMBS market is having trouble finding direction and borrowers are accepting flex pricing while the Federal Reserve agonizes over rate increases. Can the tertiary markets of today truly be the successes of tomorrow? Our panel will discuss navigating these challenges and formulating strategies for deploying capital in 2016.

Guest panelists include: Devin Chen, Executive Vice President and Co-Head of Commercial Real Estate at PIMCO, Aref Lahham, Managing Director at Orion Capital Managers, Christopher Linkas, Managing Director at Fortress Investment Group, Derek Lopez, Managing Director and Head of U.S. Acquisitions at LaSalle Investment Management, Roger Morales, Co-Head of Commercial Real Estate Acquisitions Americas at KKR and Ira Weidhorn, Co-Head and Managing Director at H.I.G. Realty Partners.

Contributing Kirkland Partners include: Michael Beinus, Scott Berger, Rachel Brown, Matthew Elliott, Bruce Gelman, Joshua Hanna, Jonathan Kandel, William Levy, Daniel Perlman, A. Kelly Ryan, Jonathan Schechter, Edward Schneidman, Andrew Small and Stephen Tomlinson.

After the panel discussions, a cocktail reception will take place onsite at Kirkland's 50th Floor Conference Center immediately following the program.

If you have questions, please contact Abby Williams at +1 (212) 909-3281 or abigail.williams@kirkland.com.