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Click here to view. > 13 April 2010  The following is an abstract of the paper that will be presented:
As the REIT regime has been expanding globally, corporate governance practices in emerging REIT markets have become a major concern for domestic and international investors alike. Idiosyncrasies stemming from the ownership models applied in Asian economies and the fact Asian REITs are often externally managed “captive entities” make issues pertaining to corporate governance of the listed real estate sector in Asia all the more important. To address these issues, the paper introduces an original framework that can be used to estimate the quality of corporate governance among externally managed Asian REITs. As a pilot study, the framework is applied to define a corporate governance index of REITs listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange (S-REITs). The index called R-Index enables the ranking of S-REITs’ corporate governance practices. It is then used to examine the relationship between corporate governance and performance of S-REITs. The empirical tests based on several performance-related metrics provide evidence supporting a positive correlation between corporate governance practices identified in the R-Index and stock performances. However, we find no positive correlation with operating performance proxied by accounting measures. In other words, S-REITs with higher corporate governance tend to register better risk-adjusted returns but do not outperform operationally. To test for market efficiency, the study shows that S-REITs with the best corporate governance practices also have less information asymmetry.
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> 30 March 2010 Full Member Senior Executives Roundtable One of the popular components of our annual Forums is a senior executives roundtable. The concept is a closed door, facilitated discussion on matters of concern to our full members – real estate fund managers, property companies, investors and banks. Each year we seek member input on the agenda content. Last year's roundtable was dominated by discussion about the impact of the global financial crisis. It also set plenty of direction for what members wanted our association to do - for example, it set in train an enhanced research program and projects relating to investor education, Asian pension funds and corporate governance are nearing completion. It also led to a review of the APREA value proposition and reconsideration of the benefits of membership.
To our knowledge this was the first time such a session had been held in Asia and it proved to be very powerful and rewarding to participants. We are repeating this event at this year's Forum in Singapore. Geoffrey Dohrmann, President & CEO, Institutional Real Estate Inc, will be the Roundtable facilitator. Based on full member feedback to date the discussion topics will include:
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> 8 March 2010 Investor Day We are pleased to announce more details about Investor Day. The objective of Investor Day is to bring together invited qualifying investors (including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies) and investment managers to meet directly with corporate members of APREA. It will embrace both direct and indirect real estate investment.
Investor Day will include the following key features:
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> 28 February 2010 Special Second Day Address We are delighted to announce that the second day of the Forum will open with a special session on The Need for Creativity in a Rapidly Developing World. In a world that is changing at a swift and furious pace, traditional knowledge is fast losing its value. As our world stands on the brink of an ideas explosion, it is our ability to absorb new knowledge and come up with new ideas - and to make them come true - which is increasingly important. Fredrik Haren has spent the last 3 years interviewing more than 200 people in 20 countries about this change and what changes people have to do to be able to handle it. Mr. Haren’s address will cover areas such as:
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> 28 February 2010 Unlisted Funds Workshop On the afternoon of 20th April APREA Institute will be running one of its short course program workshops, on “Unlisted Real Estate Funds Structuring”. It will be held at the Forum venue, the Shangri-La Hotel, so that Forum delegates can also visit the workshop. Topics to be covered are likely to include:
More information on the workshop program will be provided shortly. The APREA Institute, APREA's education and training arm, provides the foundation for raising standards in the industry through the provision of practical and applied training programs. Its Certificate of Real Estate Investment Finance program is the only course of its kind in the region to be both developed and delivered by industry practitioners. |
> 28 February 2010 Full Member Senior Executives Roundtable One of the popular features of our annual Forum is the senior executives roundtable. The concept is a closed door, facilitated discussion on matters of concern to our full members – real estate fund managers, property companies, investors and banks. Last year's roundtable was dominated by discussion about the global financial crisis and what it would mean for the industry moving forward.
To our knowledge this is the only session of its kind to be held in Asia and it has proven to be very powerful and rewarding to participants. We are repeating this event at this year's Forum in Singapore. The Roundtable facilitator will be announced shortly. Based on full member feedback to date the discussion topics may include:
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The recent financial crisis has highlighted the importance of promoting adequate corporate governance practices in the Asian listed real estate sector. While it is sometimes argued that REIT-like regimes provide a regulatory framework that makes superfluous the need for stringent corporate governance rules, past research shows that countries with the greater scrutiny in terms of corporate-governance provisions (e.g. USA) are also those where the best practices and the most developed real estate capital markets can be found.
To foster good corporate governance practices in the Asian real estate listed sector, APREA is developing an Index of Corporate Governance specially designed for S-REITs. The project is being undertaken in cooperation with leading academics and professionals. This session will introduce the APREA Corporate Governance Index and will present the main conclusions of the research report. It will be followed by a panel session of investors and consultants which will discuss a range of corporate governance related topics including related party transactions to the impact that the financial crisis is likely to have on corporate governance in Asian listed real estate vehicles moving forward. |