Lee Kong Chian School of Business and Mapletree Investments jointly present to you :
Is SPAC Listing Suitable For Real Estate Company 

SYNOPSIS

SPAC stands for “special purpose acquisition company” and is often referred to as a “blank check” entity. SPACs exist to acquire or merge with promising private companies, which would take that company public without the need for an initial public offering (IPO).  However, the identity of the target companies is unknown to the investors in a SPAC. So, in essence, investors are allocating money to invest in an unknown entity, which is similar to writing a “blank check.”  While the most obvious benefit to investors is the lure of getting in on “the next big thing” before it becomes “the next big thing, what are risks and how does SPACs benefit the investors?

Join us on a panel discussion with industry practitioners. The session will start off with a 10-minute sharing from each panelist, followed by a 30-minute panel discussion at the end.

AGENDA

3.00pm : Opening Remarks:  
Ms Wendy Koh
Chairman of SMU Real Estate Programme Advisory Board 
 
3.05pm - Panel Discussion :  Is SPAC listing suitable for a Real Estate Company

Panellists : 
•    Ronald Tan (SGX)
•    Lock Yin Mei (Allen & Overy LLP)
•    Inran? (UBS)
 
Moderated by:
Professor Melvyn Teo           
Singapore Management University                    
 
3.55pm :  Q & A 

4.10pm : Concluding Remarks 
By Professor Bert De Reyck
Vice-Chairman of SMU Real Estate Programme Advisory Board

4.15pm : End of Webinar

SPEAKER / PANELLIST

Professor Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh
Earle W. Kazis & Benjamin Schore Professor of Real Estate
Professor of Finance
Graduate School of Business
Columbia University

After completing his PhD in Economics from Stanford University, Professor Van Nieuwerburgh started his career at New York University’s Stern School of Business in 2003. From 2016 to 2018, he was the David S. Loeb Professor of Finance. He was the inaugural Director of the Center for Real Estate Finance Research, which he led from 2012 to 2018.

His research lies in the intersection of housing, asset pricing, and macroeconomics. Professor Van Nieuwerburgh has published widely in all top economics and finance journals. He served as Editor at the Review of Financial Studies from 2016-2020. He currently serves as the First Vice President of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, and will be its President in 2022. He is a Faculty Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Center for European Policy Research, and the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economics Research.

He is an independent director at Moody’s Investor Services, an advisor to Anchor Health Properties, and serves on the Federal Reserve Banks’s Model Validation Council for the annual bank stress tests. Before, he served as an advisor to the Norwegian Minister of Finance, and has been a visiting scholar at to the Central Bank of Belgium, the New York and Minneapolis Federal Reserve Banks, the Swedish House of Finance, the International Center for Housing Risk, and has contributed to the World Economic Forum project on real estate price dynamics. He is a frequent contributor on real estate topics in the media.

In 2016, Professor Van Nieuwerburgh was awarded the Bérnácer Prize for his research on the transmission of shocks in the housing market on the macro-economy and the prices of financial assets. The Bérnácer Prize is awarded annually to a European economist under the age of 40 who has made significant contributions in the fields of macroeconomics and finance. In 2021, he was awarded the TIAA Institute’s Paul Samuelson Award for research on lifelong financial security.

PANELLISTS

Mr Wong Mun Hoong
Regional Chief Executive Officer
Australia & North Asia
Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd

Mr Wong, as Regional Chief Executive Officer of Australia & North Asia, is overall responsible for and drives the Group’s non-REIT businesses in Australia and North Asia, which includes Hong Kong SAR, Japan and South Korea. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Mapletree Logistics Trust Management Ltd.

From 2006 to July 2019, Mr Wong was the Group Chief Financial Officer of Mapletree, overseeing the Finance, Tax, Treasury and Private Funds Management functions of the Group. Prior to joining Mapletree in 2006, Mr Wong had over 14 years of investment banking experience in Asia, of which the last 10 years were with Merrill Lynch & Co having worked at its Singapore, Hong Kong SAR and Tokyo offices.

Mr Wong graduated with a Bachelor of Accountancy (Honours) degree from the National University of Singapore in 1990, and holds the professional designation of Chartered Financial Analyst from the CFA Institute of the United States. He attended the Advanced Management Programme at INSEAD Business School.

Ms Priya Kini
Managing Director and Head of Global Banking
Singapore
Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation

Ms Priya Kini was appointed Managing Director and Head of Global Banking, Singapore, HSBC in Feb 2019. She is responsible for delivering the full range of HSBC financial products and solutions across corporate and institutional clients. This includes financial advisory, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, debt and equity capital markets, payments and cash management, securitization, commodities, foreign exchange and global markets and export and infrastructure finance and advisory. Priya is a member of the HSBC Singapore Executive Committee.

Priya joined HSBC in 2001 and has served in a number of roles spanning Corporate and Institutional Banking, Client Coverage and Risk Management in HSBC offices in Mumbai, London, Hong Kong and Singapore. Prior to joining HSBC, she has also worked at other financial institutions in Treasury and Capital Markets roles. Priya holds a Post-Graduate Degree in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
 

MODERATOR

Professor Melvyn Teo
Deputy Dean (Faculty and Research)
Singapore Management University

Melvyn is Deputy Dean and Professor of Finance at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University. An expert on hedge funds, Melvyn has published in all the leading finance journals including the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, and the Review of Financial Studies. His work has garnered several awards, including the Jack Treynor Prize by the Q Group, and has been cited by Bloomberg, CNBC, The Economist, and The Wall Street Journal. Melvyn received a BA in Economics and Mathematics from Cornell University and a PhD in Economics from Harvard University.

A zoom link will be sent to all successful registrations.  For enquiries, please contact us at realestate@smu.edu.sg.