RealCast: Pandemic-beaters to the fore, core in question, ESG influences IPO outcomes
Nicol Dynes, Dan Innes, Paul Strohm and Richard Betts
In the spotlight this week:
Student housing in the CEE region is seen as a market with much promise, despite the pandemic – while 75% of investors in Western European PBSA want to do repeat business, in CEE it is as much as 98%. Poland is particularly favoured as a large, polycentric market.
Logistics, another of the main pandemic-proof sectors, has seen Barings investing in Paris and US investor Ardent investing in the UK. Meanwhile, new UK planning laws are designed to help the high street’s recovery, post-pandemic, as are a series of relaxations such as those that allow pubs and restaurants to operate as takeaways.
The European Council of Shopping Places has published a position paper to highlight the situation of retail landlords across Europe who ECSP says are bearing an unfair proportion of the cost of the pandemic. In the office sector, the pandemic has driven many investors to core assets, but as AEW’s Christina Ofschonka pointed out, the pandemic is actually moving the goalposts and core may not be what we thought it was.
Elsewhere, contrast the IPOs of European logistics specialist CTP and food delivery service Deliveroo, the former highly successful, the latter a disappointment. Although operating in completely different sectors, ESG seems to have been fundamental in both cases. And in Asia, the increased focus on ESG and technology are two positive outcomes of the pandemic, as DLA Piper’s Susheela Rivers pointed out.
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