EDITOR'S LETTER: On the road to recovery

Welcome to PERE’s first annual Awards & Annual Review issue. While this is not the first time we have had an annual review issue nor is it the first time we have published an awards issue, this is the first time we have joined the two efforts together in one publication. Much like the industry we cover, we are consolidating as well.

When you think about it, having one publication for both special features makes a lot of sense. Our annual review used to come out with the December issue, which meant that any industry events that happened after the US Thanksgiving holiday did not make it into the review issue. For 2010, that would have meant missing out on several big news items, including the fact that CBRE Investors was likely to acquire ING REIM (which it officially did this year).

With regards to awards, our coverage of the winners used to be just a special section in the March issue. Now, we have more room to really give our awards the full effort they deserve (not that we ever gave anything less) and leverage off of the wealth of content from our annual review.

First up in the new Awards & Annual Review issue are the results of the 2010 Global PERE Awards, where we provide a brief look at the people, firms and deals that the industry deemed the best of the best in 2010. Divided into our three coverage regions as well as a global section, these awards garnered thousands of votes from the readers of PERE and PERENews.com around the world. Check out the complete list of winners on p. 6 and mini profiles of those winners starting on p. 8.

Then, dive into the Annual Review as we look back at the key issues of 2010: the rush to core assets, the shift in power from GPs back to LPs and the shakeout among investment managers and private real estate firms, to name a few. We also revisit our various PERE Roundtables, re-examine some of the best Blueprint interviews we conducted in 2010 and take you on a pictorial tour of our four PERE Forums. Most importantly, we chronicle the year’s top stories from the Americas, Europe and Asia and kick it all off with a global preview of private equity real estate for 2011 on p. 26.

Reading back through the pages of this publication, it is clear that the private equity real estate industry was on its way to recovery in 2010. And if the momentum from the end of last year carries through to the rest of 2011 – as it has in the first couple of months so far – this year could be a true turning point for the private real estate industry.

Enjoy the review,

Erik Kolb
Senior Editor, Real Estate