Mike Flax, Chief Executive Officer of the JSE Securities Exchange property loan stock company, Spearhead Property Holdings, has just returned from New York, where he represented South Africa at the Young Presidents Organisation Round Table held at the Hotel Plaza Athenee.
Some 80 delegates, all chief executives in major commercial real estate companies worldwide, attended the roundtable.
Flax said that there was much to be gained from this type of conference because "one learns quickly what the international trends in property right now are and one is made aware both of the opportunities and the dangers in the year ahead".
Prominent speakers discussed the trends in retail, office and industrial property development while others looked at possible changes in the capital markets.
A highlight at the conference, said Flax, was a talk by George Tenet, a director of the CIA, who outlined the issues at stake in the forthcoming US election and discussed the threat of international terrorism.
Another highlight was a tour of the new R2 billion Bloomberg headquarters in New York. This was led by David Greenbaum, President of Vornado, which owns the building. The Bloomberg headquarters have already been put forward for several major architectural awards.
Flax said that he was able to network with leading US financiers and developers who were interested in joint venture property opportunities in Cape Town.
"There is," he said, "a growing respect in the USA for the way in which the South African economy is being managed, coupled to a realisation that we are now on a growth path that appears to be sustainable. Returns on Cape property are currently significantly better than those in the US and foreign direct investment is likely now to flow into the Cape Town property sector at a faster rate."
For further information contact Mike Flax on 021 425 1000.
Publisher: Spearhead
Source: Spearhead
