The real estate market has kept up well despite the pandemic, says Peer Bender, CEO of Swiss investment firm Acron. The expert discussed the future of the business in an interview with finews.tv.
Property is an attractive proposition, despite or perhaps even because of corona, says Peer Bender in an interview with finews.tv. «In general, residential and logistics investments may have benefitted from the current situation with Covid-19, while retail and hotel property have had a hard time in the last months,» said the CEO of Swiss property investment firm Acron.
Acron is looking back on 40 years of doing business, mainly in the segment of so-called club deals. «A club deal is an alternative to direct real estate investments. It includes a group of investors with aligned interests, who want to invest in an attractive real estate transaction, but they can’t do it alone because of volume, location or size.
This is where we come in and make these deals possible,» Bender said. Club deals are a good combination of direct investments and a diversified and stock-quoted property investment.
Acron is serving a clientele of high-net-worth individuals, family offices and smaller institutional investors. They often have made direct investments in real estate and now want to diversify to other countries or asset classes and are looking for a partner to do so.
Possibility for Early Exit
Bender agreed that the liquidity in such club deals tended to be fairly limited, but also cautioned that this applied to the real estate market in general. «We compensate for this by providing 100 percent transparency,» said the Acron CEO. The client knew from the start in what he will invest his money and what the strengths and weaknesses were; the portfolio wouldn’t change over time, allowing the client to continuously assess the risks involved.
In the segment of club deals, investors typically commit themselves for a period of five to seven years. What happens, if an investor needs his money back earlier? «If there is an urgent need to exit, we normally find a substitute buyer.»
High Level of Stability
The Swiss property market is highly stable, said Bender, an important element in times of a pandemic. Stability stemmed from the ownership structure, regulatory demands, interest rates and tax situation, he added.
The stability of the Swiss market was a premium factor for the country if one compares the business with those of more volatile markets, for instance, the U.S. «There is less volatility in the Swiss real estate market. And this is what the investor wants and always wanted.»
