As of the beginning of the second half of 2022, the distress among many Chinese property developers goes on, home sales are in a significant decline, concerns about employment grow, in general the property sector shows limited signs of improvement. At the same time, policy easing has been spreading across cities gradually, and some cities have started to show positive signs. Asset sales and M&A also gather pace as the state-owned enterprises step in. Almost a year in since Evergrande 'kicked off' the current cycle, how do we assess the market conditions, how will the distress play out overall and across cities and developers? How discounted are those distressed deals under way? How are the longer-term fundamentals for China housing changing? Is there anything we all might be missing in the picture?
The European Chamber is pleased to invite you to join our upcoming Working Group meeting, where Mr Robert Ciemniak is the Founder & CEO of Real Estate Foresight, will provide an overview of the current landscape of the property sector in China. Mr Ciemniak’s presentation will be followed by a panel discussion with Ms Peidan Yang, Executive Director of C Team, and Ms Karen Xu, Vice Chair of the Construction Working Group and Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at White Peak. The meeting will take place on Wednesday, 14th September from 10:00 to 11:30 offline in the European Chamber Beijing offices and online via Zoom. Mr Ciemniak will join the meeting online, and the other panelists will participate offline in Beijing.
Agenda
10:00-10:05 Opening Remarks
10:05-10:30 Overview of China’s property sector by Mr Robert Ciemniak
10:30-11:00 Panel discussion with the following industry experts:
Mr Robert Ciemniak – Real Estate Foresight
Ms Peidan Yang – C Team
Karen Xu – White Peak
11:00-11:30 Discussion and Q&A
If you are interested in joining this meeting, please feel free to register with Ms Yuxuan Jia at intern011@europeanchamber.com.cn before Tuesday, 13th September noon. When you register, please clarify whether you will be joining online or onsite in Beijing.
About the speakers
Robert Ciemniak
Robert Ciemniak is the Founder & CEO of Real Estate Foresight (2012), an independent research boutique specializing in China housing markets, as well as Robotic Online Intelligence (2017), a tech startup in the AI-enabled automation of research.
Real Estate Foresight (REF) provides investors, fund managers, developers, and lenders interested in China with the most granular, data-driven research on China housing markets, powered by in-house technology, the content from data partners and the alternative data collected from public sources.
Prior to his ventures, Robert's experience included a 13-year career with Thomson Reuters in two major roles as Global Head of Real Estate Markets (London/Hong Kong) and earlier as Head of Corporate Foresight in Group Strategy in London. Robert holds a dual MBA degree from London Business School and Columbia Business School in New York, and MSc from Warsaw School of Economics. He is also an international master in chess and the author of a book about the Internet and competitive strategy (1999).
Peidan Yang
Peidan is the Executive Director of C Team. C Team is an NGO established in 2017 and committed to supporting Chinese entrepreneurs to be action leaders in addressing climate change, promoting green innovation and revolution, exploring a green and low-carbon development mode and promoting sustainable and eco-friendly development. Prior to C Team, Peidan was Director of International Cooperation at the China Youth Development Foundation. Peidan has a BA from the Beijing University of Science and Technology in English for Science and Technology, a Master in Applied Linguistics from Beihang University and a Master of Non-Profit Administration from the University of Notre Dame.
Karen Xu
Ms Karen Xu is the Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at White Peak. Karen is responsible for White Peak’s investor relations, corporate communications and sustainability initiatives. Prior to joining White Peak, Karen held several management positions at property consultancy firms in Beijing and Shanghai, providing advisory services on the real estate market, including transactional due diligence, portfolio valuation and other related services.
At the European Chamber, Karen is the Vice-Chair of the Construction Working Group.