Investors won't just come back, they will have to be brought back
2009.05.28. - Anita Szepesi, Napi Gazdaság
"This is the moment when, with the efficient communication of the Budapest Business Region's (BBR) attributes, we could lure regional players away from Vienna," says Gergely Gulyás Kovács, the president of BBR. The time has come for cooperation between developers, the state and local governments for a more efficient international presence, and the joint presence at MIPIM in Cannes has already served to improve the marketing communication of this region. By today, virtually the entire Hungarian real estate development sector has lined up behind BBR, with for example TriGránit among the latest five members to join. The goal of BBR, which focuses on gaining new markets, is not just to win the regional competition, but also to make Budapest one of the top ten locations in Europe.
To achieve this, they are organising an investor road show to present the projects of BBR members. Venues already visited include Tokyo, while there will be a Budapest stall in Milan in June, and plans for the next one and a half years are to present themselves in 4-6 European cities, together with ITDH. The number of cluster members has risen to 26 from just six at the end of October. As to one of the most important questions at MIPIM, as well as what local market players are asking, namely, when investors will return and when will there be available financing again, Gulyás Kovács says that investors won't return - they will have to be brought back. This is a completely new situation, the solution for which is BBR's investor road show, the investors' lunch, and continuous networking. It would be very good to have lines of communication open with banks as well, but this has not yet happened. An alternative option for fundraising is approaching capital owners directly. "Projects have not changed - what were excellent projects three years ago are just as good now, only the economic environment has changed, so we just have to believe in ourselves and forge on ahead," stresses Gulyás Kovács.
