August 2009 - Investment Den to Showcase New Landmark Investment Projects
St. Petersburg, Russia: The Russia & CIS Hotel Investment Conference (RHIC) is pleased to announce a special forum known as the “Investment Den” on 27 October 2009 at 9 a.m. to discuss and investigate four potential project opportunities to a small group of judges who are acting as investors. The investment opportunities include four projects within the Russia & CIS region and each of the judges will be given a simulated amount of $40 million dollars to allocate to one or more of their chosen development projects at the conclusion of the session.
The Den will be hosted by Michael Cooper, Vice President Development Russia & CIS for InterContinental Hotels. "The Den will showcase some of the best new hotel development projects planned for St. Petersburg and Kiev as well as provide a wonderful opportunity to hear a variety of views concerning different approaches and attitudes to hotel funding in today's economic climate,” Cooper said.
The projects presented will include: A New Luxury Hotel Development in Central St. Petersburg by Tomas Dukala, Vice President of Morgan Stanley Investment Banking; A Luxury Hotel & Office Development Facing the Dnieper River in Kiev by Rudolf Schmid, Managing Partner, EREC Environmental and Real Estate Consulting GmbH; The Development of Nevskij One as a Luxury Hotel by Yuri Ilyin, Chief Executive Officer at A-Plus Estate Company; An Exciting New Mixed-Use Hotel Development in St. Petersburg by Oleg Shaposhnikov, General Director of Nikolskiye Ryady CJSC.
“The Investment Den is a superb opportunity for developers to present their projects to the industry in a formal yet interesting question and answer session. We are hoping that such a session will initiate dialogue between presenters and those investors attending the conference,” said Jonathan Worsley, co-organiser of the RHIC.
Each developer will be given the opportunity to present their project to the panel of investors and the investors will then ask one question about each project to better understand the opportunity, as well as to provide feedback. At the conclusion of the forum, once the investors have allocated their simulated $40 million dollars, the results are calculated and a winner is announced. The developer with the most capital raised will take the opportunity to question the investors to determine the stability of the investor for the project.
“Attendees and participants of the Investment Den will be able to explore the investor mentality in this environment including their allowances for certain risks, geography, returns and so forth. We’ll see how one can best present an investment idea and what questions one should be prepared for when in front of an experienced group of judges,” said Jon Leibowitz, EVP of Questex Media Group, owners and co-organisers of the RHIC. “Times are tough, and the questions just get tougher when there are limited projects and scarce funding for them. It’s a great learning experience for everyone and a very rewarding one as well.”
The judging panel is comprised of: Georg Folian, Chief Financial Officer of Warimpex AG Austria, David Geovanis, Manager Director of London & Regional Properties Russia, Boris Korol, Managing Director of Alliance Investment Group Moscow and Dmitry Tetiouchev, Partner & Head of Legal Group at Ernst & Young (CIS) Moscow.
The Russia & CIS Hotel Investment Conference will be held October 25-27, 2009 at the Corinthia Hotel, St. Petersburg, and is jointly organised by Questex Media Group, Inc. and Bench Events.
Click here to view the detailed programme or to download a copy of the full conference programme as a PDF.
Sponsors and supporters:
Platinum Sponsors confirmed to date include:
Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels (Founder Sponsor); Corinthia Hotels; Grand Hotel Europe; Horwath HTL Hungary & Russia; Orient-Express Hotels and The Rezidor Hotel Group.
Gold Sponsors:
Accor Hospitality; AZIMUT Hotels Company; CMS; DLA Piper; DTZ Hospitality Group; Hilton Hotels; InterContinental Hotels Group; Interstate Management Services; Jumeirah Group; Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.; Venture Investments and Yield Management; Warimpex AG and WATG.
Media Sponsors: Destinations of the World News; Hotel Analyst; Hotel & Motel Management; Hotel Design; Hotel & Restaurant Business Magazine; ProOtel Magazine; Magazine "Delovaya Nedvizimost"; Otelier ;«Sovremenny biznes. Otel’»; The Moscow Times; St Petersburg Investment Guide; SNIP and TTG Russia.
Supporters:
Cornell University School of Hotel Administration; Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, International Hotel & Restaurant Association; International Tourism Partnership. Pulkovo Airport and World Travel & Tourism Council.
For more information please visit www.russia-cisconference.com or contact:
Jonathan.Worsley@benchevents.com +44 (0)1483 835794
Sally.Marwaha@benchevents.com +44 (0)1244 341956
Gillian.Powell@benchevents.com +44 (0)20 8297 2053
For press inquiries, please contact Christina Harrison at +1 216 706 3770.
About Questex Media Group, Inc.
Questex Media Group, Inc is a global, diversified business-to-business media organization serving multiple industries, including hotel and hospitality, travel, technology, beauty, spa and numerous other specialty industries, with its well-established, market-leading publications, events, interactive media, research, and other marketing and media-related services. The company's combined operations include more than 450 employees in offices throughout North America, South America, Asia and Europe. Strategically, Questex places a strong emphasis on serving the hotel and hospitality market and has created the Questex HotelWorld Network, which provides access and opportunity within all facets of the hotel and lodging industry across the globe. Questex's HotelWorld Network includes events such as the International Hotel Investment Forum Berlin (IHIF), the Russia & CIS Hotel Investment Conference, The Distressed Hotel Summit, HotelWorld Food & Beverage, the HOTEC series of three-day forums and introducing IHIF Asia Pacific, a newly launched hotel investment conference in the Asia-Pacific region. The HotelWorld Network also encompasses Hotel & Motel Management magazine and Hotel Design magazine.
Bench Events - A Portal for the Hotel Industry
As organisers of top conferences for the hotel and investment industry, Bench Events is a growing entity that currently hosts leading hotel investment conferences in Berlin (IHIF), Dubai (AHIC) and Moscow (RHIC). Bench Event’s sister company, JW Bench, is a benchmarking company that has successfully launched the Conference Bench and the Productivity Bench. An industry first, the Conference Bench, measures performance data for conference and banqueting space in hotels in Stockholm, Oslo, London, Brussels with other capital cities contributing shortly