The self-storage industry is garnering more and more investor attention around the world. In the US, what was once an alternative investment is now a core asset and the industry is starting to show its potential in Asia. The Ngau Tau Kok blaze in Hong Kong last year gave investors more to understand in both the self-storage space and the general industrial market. The discussion between the government and industry operators over regulations is ongoing and the devil is in the details. 
 
In this event, you will learn about the meteoric rise of self-storage as an investment potential, the updated status on the regulations, and how these changes will affect a self-storage but also general industrial property investment. The Expert panel will focus on the challenges of the industry, thoughts on how the industrial market is poised to change going forward and the importance of this market in view of decreasing residential spaces.

Speakers 



Bill Chan 
Director, Head of Industrial Services, Colliers International

Bill has more than 24 years of experience in the industrial field including 14 years as an industrial broker and 10 years as a business owner of a clothing factory in mainland China. He worked in JLL’s Industrial services team in his early years. His expertise lies on commercial property acquisition, leasing and sales.




Simon Tyrrell Mrics
Managing Director, E3 Capital Partners

Simon is the founding director of E3 Capital Partners (formerly Palmer Capital), which was established in Hong Kong in 2009. As managing director of the business, Simon has oversight of all transaction and portfolio management elements of the group's investment activity. Simon has 19 years of direct real estate experience across Asia and Europe, covering a diverse background from the corporate occupier, advisory and property investment fields. Simon started his career with Cushman & Wakefield in London in 1998 where he gained experience in the UK and Continental Europe markets. In 2001, Simon moved to Asia with CBRE before being appointed as regional Head of Asia Property for New Star Asset Management in 2005. During his time in Asia, Simon has been responsible for over US$1 billion of real estate transactions throughout Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Macau, Hong Kong and Japan. This investment work has taken place across both traditional and specialist asset classes (data centres and self-storage) for balance sheet capital, as well as retained institutional and high net worth clients. Simon is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. 



Panelists

Felix Lai
Investment Director, Gaw Capital Partners 
 

Mr Felix Lai is an investment director at Gaw Capital, a global real estate fund with over $10 billion of assets under management. He has experience investing in Greater China and several regional markets in Asia Pacific. Recently he has been focusing on Vietnam. Mr Lai led and successfully completed the acquisition of a portfolio of four operating and development assets across Vietnam including the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Danang and the IPH mixed-use commercial asset in Hanoi. Previously, Mr Lai was a director at EXS Capital, an independent investment firm dedicated to Asia Pacific. Mr Lai played a critical role in several completed transactions including a take-over of a REIT in Japan, a re-financing of a residential property developer in China, as well as a private equity funding raised for an up-and-coming Vietnamese real estate developer. Before that, Mr Lai was at the leveraged finance team of Citi and worked on high-yield financing of private equity buyout and cross-border M&A transactions.
 

Peter Churchouse
Author, The Churchouse Letter
Co-Founder & Editor, Stansberry Churchouse Research
 

Peter Churchouse spent more than 15 years at Morgan Stanley where he was Managing Director, strategist, analyst and Head of research, before establishing a fund investing in Asian real estate and real estate securities. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Peter established and ran a property research department and consultancy function for international property consultants, Jones Lang Wootton (now Jones Lang Lasalle) in Hong Kong. Peter is currently the author of The Churchouse Letter, a financial investment newsletter with a global subscriber base published by independent research firm Stansberry Churchouse Research which he co-founded. Peter serves as a non-Executive Director of listed real estate companies Long for Properties Co. Ltd (960 HK), and Hysan Development Company Limited (14 HK), and is a committee member and former Chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce’s Real Estate & Infrastructure Committee. He is a Director of Asia Property Services in Hong Kong which currently manages a special purpose property investment company.

Moderator


Luigi La Tona
Executive Director, Self Storage Association Asia 
 

Luigi is the current and founding Executive Director of the Self Storage Association Asia and since March 2014, has grown it to a globally recognized industry body. He works hard with his team in order to bring the self storage and investment community across the region and world together.  The challenges of this run across languages, cultures, perceptions, wants, needs, personalities, and of course budgets. Luigi can attribute growth in the SSAA to his previous experiences at The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, managing one of the largest and most proactive business communities in Hong Kong, and with his professional work in corporate real estate at CBRE.

 

Venue Sponsor

Supporting Organisation

Contact: queenie_chung@cancham.org