Markets & Investment News South Africa

Property specialist the guest speaker at SA REIT Conference

Guillaume Poitrinal will headline the next South African Real Estate Investment Trust Association (SA REIT) Conference, which will take place on 17 March 2016 at The Maslow in Sandton, Johannesburg.
Guillaume Poitrinal
Guillaume Poitrinal

Poitrinal was the driving force behind Unibail-Rodamco Europe, becoming the third largest shopping centre owner, operator and developer in the world, while also being one of the youngest CEOs of a European listed company.

Following the success of its inaugural conference in 2014, the 2016 edition of this one-day senior management conference offers an exceptional programme and direct access to the most influential players active in the local and international REIT sector.

"The SA REIT Conference is designed to be a master class in listed property," says Mark Stevens, SA REIT Association's Marketing Committee chairman.
"Guillaume Poitrinal is a master of publicly traded real estate, business and finance. He is also outspoken about the need for effective fiscal and regulatory efficiencies in our fast-paced, highly-competitive modern business world. We are excited to have him as our keynote speaker and part of a great conference line-up."

Impressive background

Poitrinal graduated from Hautes Etudes Commerciales Business School in Paris and holds a Master's degree in Law. He joined Unibail in 1995, after a three-year stint at Morgan Stanley's M&A division in London and Paris. He spent 18 years building up the leading European property company.

During his tenure as chairman and CEO, the company entered the CAC40 index, and merged with Rodamco to create Unibail-Rodamco, to create Europe's largest property company, while rewarding its shareholders and outperforming its major index benchmarks.

At the height of his professional career in 2013, Poitrinal left Unibail-Rodamco to take on the entrepreneurial challenge of building up his own company. When Poitrinal handed over the reins of Unibail-Rodamco, it had a market capitalisation of €18bn, a standing real estate portfolio of €30bn, a development pipeline of €6bn and a leading position in the capital cities of 12 countries in Europe.

Today, Poitrinal is the founder and CEO of Woodeum & Cie, which specialises in sustainable construction material technology. He is also a founder of new fund manager International Capital Meijer Aquien Poitrinal (ICAMAP), which raised a significant €500m for its first closed-end real estate fund, concentrating on European mid-cap companies, late last year.

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