Press Release
January 22, 2010

After the Near Collapse of Wall Street What's...Next for the Real Estate Industry?

NEW YORK, January 22, 2010 – In light of the current challenging economic conditions for real estate capital markets, Columbia Business School and Goodwin Procter LLP have partnered to present the 2010 International Real Estate Capital Markets Conference on Jan. 29, at the TimesCenter, 242 West 41st Street, N.Y. (agenda follows).

The keynote speaker will be renowned economist Frederic S. Mishkin, Alfred Lerner Professor of Banking and Financial Institutions at Columbia Business School, followed by two panel sessions of real estate capital markets industry leaders discussing debt and equity capital markets issues.

“At this time last year, there was virtually no equity or debt capital available to fund, recapitalize or de-leverage real estate investments,” said Gil Menna, partner at Goodwin Procter and co-chair of its Real Estate, REITs & Real Estate Capital Markets Group. “At that time, no one would have expected that the REIT industry would be able to see itself through the ‘near depression’ and financial crisis relatively quickly and raise the amount of equity capital it has, or that there would have been several single-borrower securitization transactions completed by the end of 2009.”

“Even though the industry needs to continue to deal with significant stress in the years ahead, the real estate capital markets are relatively much more stable than a year ago,” added Menna. “We now look forward to seeing how and when the combination of equity and debt capital will be sufficient to complete the de-leveraging and recapitalization of the asset class and return stability to the industry.”

During the conference there will be an interactive survey of attendees (over 450 senior real estate executives and thought leaders, including those representing real estate investment managers and operators, REITs, investment banks, placement agents and institutional real estate investors), taking the pulse of the industry on various questions posed by the participants and panelists.

“We are excited to be joined by my colleague Frederic Mishkin, and given the expertise of our panelists and the interactive nature of the conference, we are looking forward to an outstanding program,” said Lynne B. Sagalyn, Earle W. Kazis and Benjamin Schore Professor of Real Estate and Director of the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate at Columbia Business School and a specialist in real estate finance and urban development.

The conference will turn to leading industry experts for their thoughts on where the debt and equity markets are headed.  In addition, Professor Mishkin will lead a discussion on “Government and Central Bank Intervention in the Current Economic Crisis: Implications for the Future.”

AGENDA

WELCOME/OPENING REMARKS: (8:45 am to 9:00 am)

Gilbert G. Menna, Partner, Goodwin Procter and Lynne B. Sagalyn, Earle W. Kazis and Benjamin Schore Professor of Real Estate and Director of the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate and the MBA Real Estate Program, Columbia Business School. 

PANEL ONE: (9:00 am to 10:15 am) Debt Real Estate Markets

Moderator:  P. Sheridan “Schecky” Schechner, Managing Director, US Head of Real Estate Investment Banking, Barclays Capital.

Panelists: David M. Durning, Senior Managing Director, Prudential Mortgage Capital Company; Patricia F. Goldstein, Vice Chairman, Emigrant Realty Finance; Brian Harris, Chief Executive Officer, Ladder Capital; Douglas T. Linde, President, Boston Properties.

PANEL TWO: (10:30 am to 11:45 am) Equity Real Estate Markets

Moderator: Jonathan Litt, Founder and CEO, Land and Buildings.

Panelists: Cia Buckley, Principal, Dune Capital; Steve Coyle, Chief Investment Officer, Global Realty Partners; Jeffrey D. Horowitz, Head of America Real Estate, Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Douglas M. Weill, Founder & Managing Partner, Hodes Weill & Associates.

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION (11:45 am to 12:30 pm)

Government and Central Bank Intervention in the Current Economic Crisis: Implications for the Future

Frederic S. Mishkin, Alfred Lerner Professor of Banking and Financial Institutions, Columbia Business School, Graduate School of Business.

WRAP-UP/CLOSING COMMENTS: (12:30 pm to 12:45 pm)

About Goodwin Procter
Goodwin Procter LLP is one of the nation’s leading law firms with offices in Boston, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Washington, D.C. The firm’s core areas of practice are corporate, litigation and real estate, with specialized areas of focus that include financial services, private equity, technology, REITs and real estate capital markets, intellectual property, tax and products liability. Information may be found at www.goodwinprocter.com