The UK Innovation Corridor’s Investment Adviser Gavin Winbanks reports on all things EXPO REAL, which took place in Munich between Monday 6th October to Wednesday 8th October.
This week has been spent flying the flag for the UK Innovation Corridor and its members at EXPO REAL, as part of the UK Cities and Partners delegation. Chair, Jackie Sadek, and I participated in a variety of panel and roundtable discussions, to promote the projects in the Corridor whilst also undertaking direct investor engagement and extolling the virtues of our region.
For those unfamiliar with EXPO REAL, there are over 40,000 people in a variety of different halls over the course of two very packed days. My observations, having done all the other major commercial property shows, is that this is by far and away the most commercial of all of them. It is definitely worthwhile but it’s not for the fainthearted. While there is a traditional place-making component to the event, the real engagement with investors comes through project specific discussions and securing this requires a significant amount of effort. While the Corridor message resonated with the investor community, we recognise that more needs to be done to deepen engagement to be able to transact on the existing and future projects.
One highlight for me was the session I attended with Jackie on Asian investor sentiment, chaired by former Corridor Chair, Greg Clark. We found it hugely informative, partly out of recognition that within the Asian region, most investors are deploying capital at scale in Japan and Australia before looking outside the region. When investors look outside Asia, there is a sense the UK is now perceived as a stable investment environment as well which is progress. There was also a strong sense that London would always remain investable but that more would need to be done to attract interest further afield. It was also not an all investors strategy, i.e. engagement would be on a case-by-case basis with some investor types more pre-disposed to the UK.
Being part of the wider UK Cities and Partners delegation was hugely useful with both commercial partners offering valuable insights, including Trowers and Hamlins (among others) for a series of informal and formal engagements. What more, to be joined by our colleagues at the City of London and Invest Hertfordshire extolling the virtues of the Corridor (and us them, in return) was really powerful. Compliments must be given for what I believe is an improved presence to drive attention and focus for engagement.
We have a variety of follow-ups and observations on the way we could be doing more to attract investment into the Corridor and over the coming months will turn our minds to how we take forward our investor engagement for MIPIM and for UKREIIF and look forward to working hand in glove with all of the members to make sure this outreach works for everyone in the Corridor.
