Quarterly Round Up

BERKELEY INSIGHTS EVENTS MARKET UPDATES OUR COMPANY

ISSUE 3 - Q3 2020

BERKELEY INSIGHTS

TEAM BUILDING

At Berkeley Assets, we invest heavily in our team. We incorporate regular training and development sessions into our team’s schedule, combined with a variety of team building activities that focus on the physical and mental well-being of each of our staff.

Responsible for planning those team building activities is Hamad Al Qasim, Head of Corporate and Cultural Affairs at Berkeley Assets. Hamad’s role is paramount in maintaining the positive and innovative culture that the firm has regularly been praised for. Hamad’s role is imperative for planning and organising team building activities, which include everyone from Senior Management to the Junior Associates.

The highlight was X-Strike, this month. An indoor action-packed entertainment destination, where combat simulation meets competitive gaming. The team enjoyed the activity, designed to promote teamwork, strategy, and tactical domination through a variety of missions and team-building games.

Women in Leadership

As a global firm, we are constantly aiming to enhance our working culture to retain and attract top female talent at all career levels. In line with several Women in Leadership initiatives, we have succeeded in attracting and retaining talented women.

At Berkeley Assets, we have achieved an almost equal split between female and male employees through new and still ongoing recruitments over the past months. Archna Cummings, Head of Operations at Berkeley Assets, is our chief advocate for driving Women in Leadership initiatives. She plays a crucial role in attracting the right female talent.

Virtual Reality

Berkeley Assets has always taken pride in simplifying complicated principles and ensure our clients have full transparency in everything we do. Virtual reality is an innovative but for us, a natural extension of that. It is in the final stages of development and is expected to be released before the end of the year.

This will include a unique virtual experience of some of our projects, and an understanding of how we work across the globe; from project management to client experience.

EVENTS

Novus by Berkeley Assets

Our unique client benefits programme ‘Novus by Berkeley Assets’ is ready for its active launch next month. Novus is an exclusive mobile application and the entry point to a world of incredible experiences. True to our mantra “doing things differently” and to offer our clients and stakeholders the highest level of service, we developed this unique application to set a new benchmark in the private equity industry.

With this exceptional platform, we go the extra mile for our clients. Novus allows us to evolve further by ensuring we can continue providing an elite service to all those who wish to experience our brand. Novus offers clients and stakeholders worldwide a variety of exclusive benefits and provides an immersive brand experience. The user-friendly application will provide its members with a wide range of exclusive products and services, where special rates and packages have been developed and created between Berkeley Assets and collaborating Partners.

MARKET UPDATES

Private Equity Insights

During Q1 of 2020, we recorded solid private equity deal-making. Due to the negative impact of the pandemic and its challenges on the rise in Q2, many firms shifted attention towards their existing portfolio of investments. The volume of closed transactions and deal-making slowed during this period.

The low level of activity persisted during Q3, reflecting the short-term pause. However, mergers and acquisitions will likely rebound as the economy recovers, with a focus on value creation and strategic investing opportunities. We expect to see an increase in deal volume in the months ahead.

The economic effect of the coronavirus outbreak led the majority of private equity firms to turn quickly to address value creation. Alternative strategies such as joint ventures and distressed debt have grown in popularity. For now, opportunistic investing strategies will probably fuel deal volume.

Global Markets: The Great Reopening

The initial drop of economic activity since March due to the pandemic lockdown, was much deeper than the negative economic impact of the financial crisis in 2008. As lockdowns are eased, experts have hoped on a sharp and strong recovery during Q3 and onwards. However, in our previous quarterly update from Q2, we reported that one should not be fooled by the new market highs caused by oversold investor sentiment.

It has been proven throughout the course of history to not place all your faith in a fast recovery, and the markets are sure to react to the US election result. While millions of new jobs will be created between now and year-end, this does not necessarily mean a V-shaped recovery is ahead of us. For the global markets, there is now an even stronger divide between struggling economic activity and market performance.

OUR COMPANY

Global Growth: Progress on Expansion into Africa

A successful past quarter was achieved by laying the foundation for a strong network with key financial institutions in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, Kenya and Mauritius. This quarter, we used the established network to gain a better understanding of each region and to analyse the appetite for low risk, asset-backed placements with fixed returns.

Through our established relationships with key individuals, we have seen a keen interest in what we do as a firm. Discussions about synergies and the process of working together have been extremely positive and promise great success.

Market research showed that UHNWI seek alternative asset classes more than ever, because of the current uncertainty of global markets. For us at Berkeley Assets, it is our aim to provide a valuable alternative and to educate these individuals about private equity.

Due to the uncertainty in travel and still ongoing travel restrictions, we are ensuring our relationships are still being developed effectively and with a strong foundation via virtual meetings. However, as soon as travel limitations have been eased and it is safe for our team, we are looking forward to nourishing these relationships by visiting the region.

Institutional Fund

Mike Clark visited our Asia HQ in Dubai twice during the past months. Mike Clark, Berkeley Assets’ Partner, is responsible to lead our UK based investment offices with his attention firmly on our new institutional fund.

His particular focus has been to discuss and finalise the project pipeline for the Berkeley Assets Development Fund, which we will launch within the next weeks. The level of opportunistic UK real estate deals is at a peak due to distressed vendors, caused by the economic environment. The first port of call for the fund will be to target undervalued assets with the focus on regearing leases and simultaneously achieving planning gains for development and capital uplift.

Previous Round-Ups

ISSUE 2 - Q2 2020

ISSUE 1 - Q1 2020

Offshore - Multi-Asset Private Equity Firm of the Year, Berkeley Assets

Young CEO of the Year Award 2019

Achieving Women’s Award in the Private Equity Sector 2019

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Offshore - Multi-Asset Private Equity Firm of the Year, Berkeley Assets

Young CEO of the Year Award 2019

Achieving Women’s Award in the Private Equity Sector 2019