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Henk Breukink was formerly Managing Director of F&C Asset Management and Country Head for F&C Netherlands until March 2007.  Before joining F&C, he held various international positions in a career at Shell spanning 20 years. Henk Breukink currently hold other functions including being a member of the Supervisory Board and Chairman of the Corporate Governance Committee of ING Group.

Peter Pereira Gray is Managing Director and Deputy CIO of the Investment Division of the Wellcome Trust, the £15Bn global medical research charity based in London. Prior to joining the Trust, Peter worked at Prudential Property Investment Managers, Drivers Jonas and Jones Lang Wootton. Peter is currently a Director and a past Chairman of the Investment Property Forum, the UK’s leading property investment professionals’ members association.

We are very pleased to welcome both Henk and Peter to Composition.

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We will explore how investors can bridge industry rhetoric and cross-border hurdles to get a clear view on how socially responsible investment is being dealt with within the Fund Management Industry. What can ensure fund managers look after all stakeholders’ interests? Will new industry standards, including proposed AIFM regulations, guarantee good behavior?
These and other questions will be explored in a keynote speech from:

Margaret Heffernan – Entrepreneur and author of Wilful Blindness

followed by a discussion with:

Peter Pereira Gray – Managing Director, Investment Division of the Wellcome Trust

Harry Hummels - Professor of Ethics, Organizations and Society at Maastricht University and Managing Director of SNS Impact Investment


If you would like to join this event, please contact us!

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Dirk Brounen outlined the external changes that are challenging the fundamentals traditionally underlying real estate investments: diversification, stability and inflation hedge. These are still very relevant but market and regulatory trends affect real estate’s attraction, notably in the European office market.

The panel recognized that the continuing ability of real estate to fulfill its role in an institutional investor’s portfolio poses a real challenge for the real estate industry whose skills base is dominated by the traditional sectors. There is interesting long-term potential in the less traditional sectors; senior housing, healthcare & education related sectors, where more specialized & niche products are being created to meet strong and long-term user demand. Maarten Vermeulen said, “Composition has picked up on this trend. Our strategy for Europe is focused on alternative sectors as a result of regulatory and demographic trends.” Traditional sectors still present opportunities, but a change in the approach is required. Quoting Lara Muller, “the real estate industry has a responsibility to ensure that buildings meet the requirements of their users and that they have a positive impact on the communities and environments in which they are located."

Nils Kok discussed the ever increasing relevance of sustainability for real estate. Referencing research conducted in countries like Australia, the US and the UK, it is clear that commercial markets are already recognizing the differences in values of buildings depending upon their environmental gradings. The payment of premiums for efficient buildings and discounts for those deemed non-efficient will continue in the medium term until supply evens out and efficient buildings become the norm. 

Composition’s Founder and CEO, Erwin Stouthamer, commented on the additional relevance of the Social and Governance dimensions of ESG: “At Composition we believe in our long-term responsibility. All parties: investors, users and communities, are to be considered at all stages of the investment process. This calls for a little extra attention and focus, which is not yet common-practice in the fund management industry. In working with our small and mid-cap operating partners, there is capacity for focus on responsible governance and long-term, balanced relationships to the good of all.”

Composition’s 2nd Annual Client Conference will follow on from this event held in Utrecht by discussing the topic of fair trade in real estate fund management, which will take place on May 30th, 2012 in Amsterdam.

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The topic for this event is:

How can you as an institutional investor couple strong, long term performance within your real estate allocation with socially responsible investing?

In addition to these well known thought leaders in their respective fields of real estate investing and CSR, taking part in the discussions will be: Ms. Lara Muller, Head of CSR with the publicly listed real estate company Corio and Maarten Vermeulen, Director Europe with Composition Capital Partners

For more information on this event, please contact us
 

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The venture closed in Malaysia is for the development of suburban residential projects in Kuala Lumpur, Klang Valley and Penang, designed to meet local demand in an area with a stable economic base and continuing urbanization.  As usual with Composition’s approach, the deals will be localized projects offering good quality accommodation in smaller developments. The partnership’s first acquisition is projected to complete during Q1 2012.

The joint venture in Vietnam has been created with an established local partner with whom Composition successfully worked earlier.  The venture starts at a moment in the cycle where there is immediate availability in the market of deeply distressed real estate opportunities. The focus in the short 12-month investment period is the acquisition of development projects across sectors where zoning is already permitted or pre-approved, reducing both risk and length of realization period. The venture expects to complete the first transactions shortly.

Bill Shaw, Composition’s Director for Asia, believes that Asia Fund II’s final investments are good representations of Composition’s investment approach & style across markets. He commented further, ‘These investments provide access to niche areas in both the Malaysian and Vietnamese markets at a time when we are seeing great opportunities available. The key to accessing these opportunities is working with local partners who have local knowledge, presence, alignment and the capacity to source and execute. Composition knows these partners and markets well, and the ventures we have closed here will offer our investors exposure to some of the best deals in these markets.’

 

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Composition’s Asia Director Bill Shaw added, “Taiwan’s urban regeneration program is well-defined with established procedures, within an economy we believe is a sound investment environment with potential for long-term growth. With our local partner, we are able to access niche market opportunities, which are not readily available to international investors and generally not of sufficient scale to be of interest to larger (market dominating) local developers.”

Composition’s second Asia fund is scheduled to complete two further investments in the next month, fully investing the fund. Composition’s following activity in Asia will be the launch of its Asia Fund III, offering investors access to further small and mid-cap opportunities in selected markets and sectors across Asia.

Composition Capital Partners, World Trade Center Amsterdam Tel: +31 20 570 8186
Morag Beers, Director +31 6 5249 0798 - mbeers@compositioncapital.com - Composition Capital Partners

Composition Capital Partners is an established and independent fund manager with over US$ 800Mn under management, with two additional funds for Europe and Asia to be launched in 2011. We service approximately 20 institutional investors, mainly pension systems, university endowments and foundations, from Europe, Asia and North America. Investments are focussed on small- mid-cap local operators, who are specialists in their own fields. Composition currently has a staff of 17, in offices in Hong Kong and Amsterdam. Four principals own and manage the company.
 

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By combining a brownfield site reclamation strategy with a solar roof, Composition has been able to generate socially responsible real estate and a high yielding investment.

Composition’s lead-investment here is with a local partner who has a program of brownfield site reclamations throughout France & Belgium incorporating renewable energy where possible. Additional projects are planned before the end of 2011 and Composition is pleased to have invested with some of the leaders in the field of land reclamation and renewable energy. Composition’s Fund Director Europe, Maarten Vermeulen added, ‘Going forward, Composition will be considering more socially responsible investments within its third European fund which produce not only high cash-on-cash returns, but also produce sustainable real estate assets.’

To access the full document, please refer to Our Firm, Press Releases.

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Composition are ‘people-people’. We firmly believe the human dynamic is pivotal to private equity real estate, and yet it is something that is not usually the focus of real estate due diligence. The seminar was designed to draw attention to how important and also interesting it is for our industry.

Marc Lammers opened the event with a lively presentation based on his experiences in taking the Dutch national women’s team to the top of their sport. He gave a broad view of both how to draw the best performance from individuals and form that into the best team performance. A key point he made was that it is not the best players who win, it is the best teams.

Following on from Marc’s presentation, the informal panel discussion took place between Marc, Peter Pereira Gray and Guus Overdijkink, chaired by Erwin Stouthamer.
Whilst the differentials between the sporting world and the business world were very obvious, there were also striking similarities. There is very different vocabulary used, the structures of relationships differed and of course there was a stark contrast between the physical energy of the sporting world and the more sedate business world.

The discussions concluded that there are many striking lessons to be learned from Marc’s presentation of high level sporting experiences that can be incorporated into partnership selection. Close working relationships and good communications are essential for creating good partnerships. Diversity in a team was acknowledged as a key element for success, over and above a required minimum level of quality in broad issues.

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Notable quotes from the event are:

Peter Pereira Gray: “It is critically important to get under the skin of potential partners. We also make sure that relationships and communication is in place at the various levels between ourselves and our partners. In entering long-term relationships, we must be sure we can discuss matters seriously once we face a challenging situation.”

Guus Overdijkink commented: “In assessing managers, it is important to distinguish between bullish marketing presentations and real potential. Noting the relationship between the CEO and CFO and the way these typically adversarial characters complement each other, for me says much about a team’s coherence and the potential for good performance.” He also points to the importance of not only relying on your own judgment: “also get other people involved in a partners’ assessment, and yes, references! You can’t run enough references on potential partners.”

Composition hosted the event at Het West-Indisch Huis in Amsterdam on May 18th 2011