LONDON, UK: GFH Financial Group Tuesday concluded an investor conference at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London focusing on real estate opportunities in Europe and the US, where GFH continues to expand its footprint and further strengthen its international presence and growing portfolio of diversified real estate assets.

Over the past 24 months it has deployed nearly US$6 billion in European and US real estate as well as having acquired majority stakes in Roebuck, SQ Asset Management (SQ) and Big Sky, leading real estate operators in Europe and the US.

The event was attended by investors from the Middle East, Europe, the US and Asia, the conference addressed a range of themes from current geopolitics to fiscal and monetary policy with insights from distinguished speakers, including former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Investors also heard on developments and themes in logistics, healthcare and student housing from Roebuck, SQ and Big Sky. Other esteemed guests included Lord Mervyn King, Bank of England Governor (2003-2013), Dr Pippa Malmgren, formerly an economic adviser to the White House now based in the UK, and Tina Fordham, founder of Fordham Global Insight.

Today, GFH has a portfolio of nearly US$17 billion of global assets including investments in the logistics real estate sector in Europe and the US including assets leased to Amazon, FedEx and Michelin, among others. In the US and Europe, the Group has also built a growing residential and student housing portfolio.

GFH, alongside its specialist real asset management subsidiaries and partners, is further growing its presence in these attractive segments of the real estate market, which according to speakers at the conference, continue to be underpinned by strong fundamentals and demand.

Mr. Hisham Alrayes, CEO of GFH, concluded, “We’re delighted to have brought together our investors and real estate asset management subsidiaries from the US and Europe here in London as we continue to further build our investments in these markets and realise the Group’s global asset management aspirations. Despite challenging market conditions, we see strong opportunities to grow our footprint and portfolio of real estate assets in core sectors deploying the knowledge we’ve already built through our investments and alongside partners with deep specialist and local market experience in logistics, healthcare and residential real estate. We have continued to go from strength to strength identifying and closing transactions that fit our thematic investment criteria and in line with growing demand from our investors for access to these downturn resilient and well performing sectors. We have a strong pipeline of opportunities that we are exploring in Europe and the US in addition to looking to acquire other specialist asset managers that can help accelerate our growth, further build our capabilities and maximise the performance of our existing assets. We also look forward to making this conference an annual event for our investors to share market insights and compelling opportunities.”