Financing & Doing Deals: Capitalising On The Hottest Residential Asset Class

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  Ben Chittick

  Ben brings 25 years of industry experience to the Firm. As a Managing Director in the Asset Management group, based in London, he manages relationships with operating and development partners and is responsible for the performance of the Firm’s European investments. Prior to joining Harrison Street, Ben was in the Asset Management team at Kennedy Wilson focused on a variety of investments (primarily in UK and Spain) especially hotels, multifamily/PRS, residential development, retail and other specialist property sectors. While at Silverpeak Real Estate (formerly known as Lehman Brothers Real Estate Private Equity) from 2008-2012, he worked across geographies (including Central Europe, France and UK) on a number of developments and joint ventures, and prior to that he worked at Curzon Global Partners in London on Western European acquisitions and asset management (2005-2008). Ben spent two and a half years with ProLogis on their European Fund based in Amsterdam after he started his career at AEW Capital Management in Boston. Ben received a BA in History from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

  Harrison Street

  Managing Director, Head Of Asset Management - Europe

  Ben Chittick

  Managing Director, Head Of Asset Management - Europe

  Harrison Street

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  Katherine Robertson

  Principal

  KKR

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  Huw Forrest

  Huw Forrest is the PBSA Living Capital Markets Lead for JLL. Based in London, Huw advises leading institutional investors having either invested in or are looking to access the UK PBSA market. Huw is also a trusted advisor to a number of new investors to the sector. His vast client base ranges from universities and institutions, through to the private sector. With a focus on investment, the business has advised on over £5bn in acquisition and disposal instructions over the last 24 months, whilst also specialising in providing strategic land and development advice. The business provides a full advisory service working alongside JLL’s experienced debt, valuation, equity advisory and technical consultancy business lines.

  JLL

  Head of UK Student Housing - Living Capital Markets

  Huw Forrest

  Head of UK Student Housing - Living Capital Markets

  JLL

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  Jonathan Burridge

  With over two decades of strategic sales and account management experience, Jonathan is a Co-Founder of Utopi, Chief Executive Officer, and the leading figurehead for Utopi’s operations. Having worked in the public sector and for some of the UK’s largest consultancies like Capita, he is the driving force behind sales growth, relationship management, and business strategy at Utopi, having led the business to 500% revenue growth in the 23/24 Financial Year. Recently shortlisted for EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, he is one to watch In Scotland’s Real Estate Technology sector. He has built Utopi into a prominent name in the UK’s PropTech scene over the past 5 years and continues to face business challenges with a positive attitude, bringing to the table what Utopi represents – a fresh perspective, quality, and market shifting innovation.

  Utopi

  CEO and Co-Founder

  Jonathan Burridge

  CEO and Co-Founder

  Utopi

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  Madalena Contreras

  Madalena Contreras is a Principal in the Real Estate Group at Apollo and an investment professional on the Apollo European Real Estate team, based in London. She is responsible for the day to day implementation of the European student accommodation strategy, including acquisitions and supervision of asset management. Apollo’s European PBSA footprint currently comprises a directly owned ~$600m UK portfolio, under which forms part of an aggregation to hold strategy – with the broader goal of establishing a targeted European PBSA presence for its long -term affiliated capital – within a directly managed format. Prior to joining Apollo in 2020, she was a member of the Real Estate Investing team at Henderson Park, where she focused on acquiring and managing ca. 1bn+ portfolio of built-to-rent and co-living/PBSA assets, and prior to that, she was a member of the Real Estate Debt team at Deutsche Asset Management (now DWS). As June 30, 2024, Apollo had assets under management of approximately $696 billion across all asset classes, employing over 2,900 people worldwide, of which 780+ are investment professionals. Apollo maintains deep industry experience, including providing comprehensive real estate capital solutions throughout Europe with ~$21bn under management across equity and debt strategies

  Apollo Global Management

  Principal

  Madalena Contreras

  Principal

  Apollo Global Management

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  Astrid Stanley

  Astrid Stanley is a partner specialising in commercial real estate and is a co-lead of the student accommodation group. Astrid has established herself as a go-to solicitor in the practice and advises developers, investors and High Net Worth individuals across real estate development and investment transactions. Her strength is her deep understanding of the real estate market and provides her clients with strong commercial and strategic advice throughout a transaction. Her practice covers student accommodation, living, mixed-use, office, industrial and logistics and hotels & leisure sectors. Astrid's expertise is in development and she has an ability to advise on large scale and complex transactions, with a strength in client relationships management. Astrid has broadened her experience in the development team, advising investors, landlords and occupiers on commercial acquisitions for lease and development acquisitions for sale and forward funding.

  Howard Kennedy

  Real Estate Partner

  Moderator

  Astrid Stanley

  Real Estate Partner

  Howard Kennedy

Affordability, Supply And Delivering On Student Demands

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  Oscar Lawrence

  6yrs Responsible for management of the ESP development portfolio, Forward commit, fund, direct developments, Asset transformations and refurbishments. Previous experience includes development lead for Lifestory / Pegasus Life on behalf of Oaktree Capital for 5 yrs > £500m of development . 7yrs previously working with Richard Rogers and Grimshaw across the residential, transport and retail major projects.

  Empiric Student Property

  Head of Development

  Oscar Lawrence

  Head of Development

  Empiric Student Property

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  Marc Eden

  Marc joined Regal in 2011, bringing a wealth of investment and legal experience. Having previously worked in business development raising finance for a number of technology companies and latterly as a commercial property solicitor, he oversees Regal’s investment and legal functions.

  Regal

  Investment Director

  Marc Eden

  Investment Director

  Regal

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  Mike Haverty

  Partner

  Curation Capital

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  Rob Waterhouse

  Rob Waterhouse is a Transactions Director for GSA, where he is responsible for the identification and execution of investment in assets or portfolios, across both the development and operational spectrum. Rob joined GSA in 2013 and has covered a number of roles across various finance functions as the organisation has grown, including Finance Director and Corporate Finance Director. Rob is a corporate director and resides on the Senior Management Board of GSA. Prior to GSA, Rob has built his professional career in student accommodation, having worked in the sector since 2003, with The UNITE Group. He has also gained experience within the renewable energy sector, working in project finance for MITIE for two years. He is a qualified Chartered Global Management Accountant following on from a BA (Honours) in Business Decision Analysis from the University of the West of England.

  GSA

  Transactions Director

  Rob Waterhouse

  Transactions Director

  GSA

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  Chris Stallard

  Chris is a real estate finance specialist with over a decade of industry focused experience. At Leumi UK, Chris leverages his extensive knowledge of bespoke lending structures to support clients from all sub-sectors with their real estate financing requirements, demonstrating his strengths in effectively navigating complex market dynamics. Chris joined Leumi UK with a strong track record in the debt capital markets sector, with roles at Barclays and NatWest/RBS, where he was instrumental in delivering a variety of financial services to FTSE 100 and 250 businesses.

  Leumi UK

  Relationship Director

  Chris Stallard

  Relationship Director

  Leumi UK

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  Reena Patel

  Reena's expertise is in dealing with multi-let and portfolio acquisitions, asset management, forward funding arrangements, mixed use and commercial development projects, as well as investment in the alternatives such as student accommodation, co-living, build to rent, senior living, social housing and hotels.

  Gowling WLG

  Partner

  Moderator

  Reena Patel

  Partner

  Gowling WLG

Remarks: Iain Murray, Bidwells

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  Iain Murray

  Iain leads a team of specialist Operational Living Consultants and Research Analysts at Bidwells, based in its London office, with over 140 clients from the UK, Ireland and Spain. The team have worked on over 60k+ Rental Homes and Student Beds covering PBSA, Co-living, Build to Rent, Single Family Housing/Rental, Later/Senior Living and Retirement. Iain is considered a veteran of the Living sector adding it to his 38-year career. The past projects on his CV are considerable, over £8bn of schools and hospitals in the PPP market as a Partner at G&T, the Estates Rationalisation Project for HMNB Clyde (Faslane & Coulport), over 50 Care Homes both Developed and Operated, and a strong background in FM including a term as Chair of the Professional Institute for FM the now IWFM and Deputy Chair of Global FM. Iain entered the Rental Living Sector over a decade ago founding LIV Consult, alongside Graham Bates, and the LIV Group, before selling the business to Cortland in 2019. Bidwells acquired the Operational Consultancy Team in April this year. The team are known for their knowledge leadership in Operational Living and Iain is recognised as a subject leader and an accomplished speaker in the industry. He and his team have delivered advice on over £6.2bn of assets. Iain is Chair of the Association of Rental Living Scottish Hub, sits on their Strategic Group for the UK and is a member of the Whole Life Cost Hub. Iain is also a mentor for the ULI.

  Bidwells

  Head of Operational Living

  Iain Murray

  Head of Operational Living

  Bidwells