At RIS 2018, stakeholders want increase in Nigeria’s joint ventures partnerships

Stakeholders in the nation’s real estate have called for increase partnership in the nation’s joint ventures.

They also extolled the Refined Investor Series (RIS), a yearly programme organized by Fine and Country West Africa.

RIS is reputed for engendering high -level conversations and was well attended by high profile industry & business leaders/investors.

This year’s Refined Investor Series, themed: “Collaborating for New Heights and National growth in Lagos”, was no less as Fine & Country collaborated with PwC as knowledge partner to execute what has been described as one of the most anticipated & insightful Real Estate events in Nigeria.

It explored the possibilities of joint venture partnerships in Nigeria, examining the lessons from a multi-sector perspective but with main focus on the real estate industry.

The first panel session was made up of multi sector professionals like Mr. Austin Avuru CEO, SEPLAT Petroleum (Oil &Gas) Ms Anne Rinu.

Head, Property- Standard Chartered Bank, (Banking) Mr Andre Ugarov Partner PwC, (Research & Consulting) Mr Frank Aigbogun Publisher, BusinessDay (Media) and Esiri Agbeyi. Partner, PwC.

In her keynote address, the Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chair of Fine & Country West Africa, Mrs. Udo Maryanne Okonjo noted that by nature , Real estate is a result of a collaborative effort.

She stressed that real estate is capital intensive, the larger the project, the higher its barrier to entry, and the higher the need for diverse skill set, expertise and resources.

“ All of these, effectively aimed towards increasing proficiency, reducing cost, time and mitigating the risks. Hence, the need to collaborate is essential.

She stressed that the objective of the intricate mix of panelists was to critically evaluate & extract lessons around financial risks, taxation issues, as well as other challenges involved with joint ventures in these sectors.

Also a representative of the knowledge partners for Refined Investor Series, PricewaterCoopers, Mr. Andrei Ugarov gave an insightful presentation on some of the creative funding structures that exist in the Nigerian real estate industry as well as the opportunities that exist for example pre-financing or pre-sales financing adopted recently which shares the risk burden between developers & owners.

Senior Partner at KennaPartners, Prof. Fabian Ajogwu (SAN), who kicked off the second panel with a second keynote address focused on actual real estate industry case studies.

Prof. Ajogwu presented a thought-provoking discourse on the risks involved in Real Estate Development and the legal framework to be considered when approaching a real estate joint venture agreement- he noted the importance of understanding the vision of the different parties involved.

According to him, the interests of the different personalities and interest groups must be consistently given consideration to ensure an enduring and profitable Joint venture partnership.

The 2nd panel discussion featured top real estate experts such as CEO, of Mixta Africa, Kola Ashiru Balogun, MD/CEO Eximia Properties, Hakeem Oguniran, Principal Partner, Akin Olawore & Co, Akin Olawore, Partner, Pwc Bolanle Adekoya and was moderated by Mrs Okonjo and Mrs. Bolanle Adekoya.

The panel did a deep dive into salient real estate structures and the intricacies for ensuring a profitable real estate joint venture project.

With a thorough evaluation of case studies in the real estate sector- with the panelists sharing from the lessons, war stories and their personal wins- bringing to fore salient strategies for achieving successful real estate Joint ventures.

The panel discussions were also enlivened and enriched by a resource council made up of top real estate experts in different segments of the industry and also gave valuable insights from perspectives of Facilities Management, End user, developer and architecture/design.