Rosemarie Thurston and Lesley Solomon participated in this conference sponsored by Information Management Network (IMN). Rosemarie Thurston served as conference chairperson and moderated the session, "CEO Strategy Panel: Evolve or Die: Meeting the Needs of a Continually Changing Product, Investment & Regulatory Landscape." The presentation addressed the following questions.
- SEC/FINRA enforcement actions are escalating: What is the impact on the Non-Traded REIT industry?
- Are you experiencing a greater level of due diligence scrutiny from broker-dealers? What areas of concern are they focused on? What areas should they focus on?
- How will you deal with the new requirements to value shares and increase transparency? What will be the larger impact of FINRA 12-14 on the industry as a whole?
- Can the Daily Net Asset Value (NAV) product exist on the same platform as traditional products? Will the Daily NAV product impact the independent Broker/Dealer channel? Will all Non-Traded REIT sponsors inevitably have to move to a Daily NAV product structure to survive?
- With ever-increasing competition for retail investor dollars, what are the must-do’s and must-haves for Non-Traded REIT sponsors now?
- What’s the ‘next big thing’ for the industry? How are you positioning for this?
Lesley was a featured panelist during the session, "PointTrack A Forming, Executing & Communicating Distribution/Dividend Policy In The Current Environment." The presentation addressed the following questions.
- What is your distribution/dividend policy? What was your process for arriving at this policy? How did you work with the Board of Directors over this? What information did you need to present? Have you cut distributions? Reduced redemptions? How long do you/would you go in not meeting dividends before you lower them?
- How are you communicating negatively revised valuations to shareholders and financial advisors? What has been the outcome? How are these issues affecting deals already done? How are they affecting your business overall?
- What will re-pricing issues mean for the industry? How do you see the business model for Non-Traded REITs evolving in light of tighter regulation and a move towards greater transparency?
The IMN symposium is designed to meet the information needs of established, new and prospective Non-Traded REITs, serving the growing number of Broker/Dealers that sell, or that are considering selling, the product. Alston & Bird was a sponsor of the event.
June 21-22,2012
New York Marriott Downtown / New York, NY