It is difficult to quantify the impact of events like the UK Real Estate Infrastructure and Investment Forum (UKREiiF). This new annual event with a (not very) catchy title carries with it a lot of expectation and boasts some pretty big numbers, such as over 4,000 attendees, but the most crucial number of all is near impossible to calculate: how many property deals are actually done at events like these?
It’s no doubt a question that the listed real estate investment trusts (Reits) and housebuilders asked themselves when deciding whether or not to attend. Regional developers such as Moda and Palace Capital (PCA) both sent their head honchos to make the most of an opportunity to talk with local politicians in places where they might want to develop something, but the London-focused landlords were evidently not as attracted to the Leeds-focused event.
The bosses of British Land (BLND) and Landsec (LAND) were tied up that week with their full-year results, so sent a handful of less senior people instead. SEGRO (SGRO) and Great Portland Estates (GPE) also only sent a smattering of representatives rather than their top people while Shaftesbury (SHB), Derwent London (DLN) and WeWork (US:WE) opted to send no-one at all. As a source close to Shaftesbury put it to me, “there isn’t much point it going to events like this, when the company can see the people it needs to on the streets nearby”.
Landsec and British Land’s results indicate where their priorities lie, too. The former’s chief executive Mark Allan said in the Reit’s results that it wants to spend £3bn investing in “sustainable London offices and mixed-use development over the next five years”. Meanwhile, British Land’s chief executive Simon Carter said in its results that it hopes to generate £2bn in profit from its Canada Water regeneration project and its London warehouses portfolio.
The message from all this is clear: British Land is making plenty of money in London and Landsec is doubling down on deals in London. With that in mind, why would either bother with a conference in Leeds?
That is one way of looking at it. Yes, UKREiiF has all the makings of a pro-regions event where non-London property companies can network with non-London councils, but it could well evolve into more than that.
If that does happen – and it’s a big if – UKREiiF might well end being the place where British property deals are done. This could be great news for shareholders. Reits and housebuilders can’t make money if they don’t sign leases and occasionally swap assets, and the biggest listed property companies are often accused of doing so too slowly. It is notable, for example, that British Land bragged in its results about its readiness to dive into the London warehouse market now – arguably a decade too late.
A huge UK-based deal-making conference that is easy to access, and which allows the British listed Reits to network and move quicker than their competitors, will inevitably have a positive impact on their bottom lines. In an alternative past where UKREiiF existed 10 years ago and someone at the event casually introduced British Land to an opportunity to buy up warehouse assets in the capital, the company would be boasting about having sold billions of pounds worth of warehouses rather than buying them at a very late-stage in the cycle. If only…
