We conducted three days of due diligence on the nascent REIT industry in Mexico (two days in Mexico City and one in Monterrey), our itinerary filled with back-to-back meeting with management teams of five of the seven exiting Mexican REITs, called Fideicomisos de Infrastructura y Bienes Raices or Fibras for short. Our discoveries: Mexico is experiencing a manufacturing renaissance.  –  With the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 has spurred bilateral trade between United States and Mexico, growing from $106.4 billion in 1994 to $459.8 billion in 2011, according to the Congressional Research Service. –  In the same time period, U.S. foreign direct investment in Mexico has grown from $17.0 billion to $91.4 billion, nearly half

A Greek Tragedy… or is it a Comedy? Clearly, it is a little of both. As the new Greek government fails to form a coalition, the entire “progress” of the Troika’s (IMF/ECB/EC – and Germany) negotiations reverts back to uncertainty and talk of a Greek exit from the Euro. It is comical that Greece can hold the entire Eurozone hostage time and time again. Even though the government agreed to strict austerity measures in order to receive a lifeline of IMF funding, riots and rabbles have forced a new regime that basically reneged on the previous agreement. Greece’s end-game is much like North Korea’s but without the threat of a nuclear arsenal. In fact, the financial bomb and Greek trigger

Our European analyst recently attended the BAML UK Real Estate conference in London.  One of the panel discussions involved five CEOs of prominent UK REITs talking about the state of the London real estate market.  The panelists were John Burns (DerwentLondon), Chris Grigg (BritishLand), David Atkins (Hammerson), David Fischel (Capital Shopping Centers), and now retired Francis Salway (Land Securities). While a portion of the discussion needs to be taken with healthy dose of skepticism (CEOs are apt to talk up their portfolios), there was consensus that real estate income is a real source of return to many investors.  Given the low interest rates, real estate yields continue to be attractive and thus puts significant pressure on the acquisition market.  John