Fund sourcing top agenda at RP real estate festival

MANILA, Philippines - Among the luminaries that have been invited to speak at the forthcoming Philippine Real Estate Festival on July 29-31, 2011, at the World Trade Center in Pasay City, are several international experts in fund sourcing for major projects in Asia, Africa, Australasia, North America, Europe and Latin America.

The experts have been told of the particular interest in the Philippines in the methods and conditions for availing of international funding for projects related to real estate and tourism development.

The much-respected Arun Savkur, currently a director of the Quantum Group based in New Jersey, USA, with a long and varied experience in financial packaging for infrastructure projects as well as major projects in real estate development, has accepted the invitation to come to Manila in time for the real estate festival. He is expected to dwell on practical strategies in finance and infrastructure for emerging markets in real estate and tourism.

Michael Brennan, former president and CEO of the First Industrial Realty Trust and currently executive director of the James Graaskamp Center for Real Estate, has agreed to discuss how to attract investment partners for real estate and tourism development as practiced in several countries that have been successful in this regard.

The importance of basic infrastructure as a sine qua non for real estate and tourism development will be the focus of the presentation of Glenn Stone, head of infrastructure for the Grant Thornton UK LLP, a major international consulting group based in the United Kingdom.

A more straightforward analysis of how the Philippines can qualify for sourcing global funds for emerging real estate and tourism markets will be done by Rick Bernie Kawulia, a marketing specialist in funds management, both wholesale and retail as well as local and global, from New South Wales, Australia.              

Philippine Real Estate Festival (PREF) organizer Rosemarie Basa said that while no one doubts the great potential of the Philippines to compete in the global tourism and real estate development market, the need for capital and other logistics to do so has to be realistically addressed.