John Milligan, who recently quit as Jones Lang LaSalle’s European retail chief to set up as a principal, this morning called on landlords, retailers, local government and developers to take advantage of cross-border investment opportunities with more ‘strategic alliances’.
Chairing a panel on landlord and tenant relations at the 2002 International Council of Shopping Centres (ICSC) conference in Monte Carlo, Milligan (pictured) said: “Partnerships assist a developer financially. They help the developer to increase market share, enter new markets and control costs.”
US-based shopping centre developer and ICSC trustee Norris Eber said that in the US a strategic alliance vehicle, the ICSC Alliance programme, had been established to forge partnerships between local government and developers.
Eber said: “We have seen the benefits of including local government leaders as partners rather than enemies.”
The programme is based on a series of informal local and regional meetings arranged alongside deal-making sessions and operates outside the planning process.
Associate director at JLL, Richard Blexan, stressed the importance of partnerships in the continental European market.
Blexan said: “Last year we saw ¬18.4bn of cross-border acquisitions, with the UK taking the largest share at 29%.
“Making use of joint ventures and investment vehicles makes it easier for new entrants to gain access to the market and profit from the experience of specialists.”
EGi News 25/04/02
