Kopi-C with Stonewall Europe Stapled Trust CEO: Europe’s real estate recovery, and the management discipline behind it

Ask most Singapore investors where they look for real estate exposure, and the answers are predictable: Singapore REITs along with the malls where they shop, the offices they work in, or the data centers they’ve read about. Look ahead and the conversation usually turns to the US or China. Europe, almost without failure, passes through. Simon Garing believes this is a mistake, and it is becoming more expensive to build. “Europe’s economy is diverse,” he says. “It’s as big as the US and China combined, with 27 countries. This offers Singapore investors a unique opportunity to achieve real estate returns that generally exceed those in the US and China. And it’s freehold.” Garing is chief executive of Stoneweg Europe Stapled Trust (SERT), Singapore’s largest European-focused REIT, which owns about 100 predominantly freehold properties in Western Europe. Has assets of over S$3 billion.