Wealth & Finance International - Wealth & Money Management Awards 2016

www.wealthandfinance-intl.com 7 long term cash flows by building a rental income with a long weighted average lease term portfolio of over eight years. This secures the dividend and prevents short term variations due to the market. Within the individual REIT, which is based around a specific asset class and location, we ensure risk averse returns for clients by ensuring that every investment we make is thoroughly researched. For every property we purchase, we check around eighty others, and have a department solely dedicated to researching potential investments, meeting with asset owners and developers and generally keeping ahead of the market.” “Another factor which is key to ensuring that our clients’ investments are secured is that we also take long term loans so that should there be a credit crunch in the market, we are protected against having to re-finance in a negative market.” This long term view is vital to the firm’s approach and Sylvain emphasises that every member of staff has to be fully committed to this approach. “Real estate investment is about providing a regular income and long term capital appreciation. Internally our firm operates as a close team with this shared goal. We take a long term view of every investment we make, we aim at providing a secure dividend and we support our clients, both tenants and investors alike.” “Having professional, dedicated and experienced staff is key to our success. This is because a major part of what sets our firm and its REITs apart from other, similar financial products, is our professionalism. Offering the very best assets is important, but being professional and gaining the trust of our clients is critical, as this helps us build a long term relationship and ensures that everyone who works with us has a positive experience.” One of the key challenges to working within the real estate investment market is the cyclical nature of the market, which brings with it many great opportunities for firms which have a long term view; are willing to be patient at times, and are ready to act when the opportunities present themselves, as Sylvain describes. “Currently, the real estate market is slowing down, and therefore we are taking advantage of this by buying property. We firmly believe that taking advantage of negative markets is crucial to the success of our REITs and we aim to purchase properties during such down cycles and reap the benefits when the market recovers. It is this disciplined strategy which has helped our firm achieve the success it enjoys today.” Moving forward, Sylvain believes that there are exciting times ahead for the company, the REIT and the overall real estate market. “Looking to the future, we are keen to capitalise on the opportunities we have found during the current market, and are set to launch several new REITs in new asset classes and regions over the next few months.” “Recently we launched a new REIT in Morocco and we are aiming to move into new markets as we notice the growing trend for professionalisation of real estate investment in the region. Both institutional and private investors take a great interest in real estate as an asset, as they rebalance their portfolio away from fixed income products and because firms such as ours are making real estate investment easier to access and safer.” “Although we have achieved phenomenal success in the past few years, Emirates REIT is still relatively young and we look forward to growing our portfolio and working with new clients.”