GREATER LISBON STRENGTHENS ITS PRESENCE AT MIPIM

From 9 to 13 March, over five days, a Portuguese delegation led by the Greater Lisbon pavilion presented some of the country’s most attractive investment opportunities at MIPIM to more than 20,000 delegates from 90 countries, including 70% of the world’s top 100 investment managers. In addition to the capital, Greater Porto, the Intermunicipal Communities of Lezíria do Tejo and Médio Tejo (Nersant), the Coimbra region, and the city of Fundão were also represented with their own exhibition spaces at the world’s leading real estate event.

Confirming the evolution of the investment market in recent years, on Tuesday 10th investors visited the Greater Lisbon stand to understand why this region not only offers a unique combination of advantages, but also continues to present some of the best investment opportunities in southern Europe.

With extensive international experience in the development of large urban projects, architect Patrícia Lima, CEO of ARC IDC, said: “Portugal offers a unique combination of factors for real estate investment.” Kicking off the official programme at the Greater Lisbon stand at MIPIM, the expert shared her market vision, stressing that “brand positioning, product strategy and the flexibility to mitigate risk through strategic masterplanning are increasingly central to the success of a real estate project, as location alone is no longer enough”.

She noted that these requirements are met by all major masterplanning projects, such as those developed by ARC in Saudi Arabia, which she presented at MIPIM. “The world is changing at a rapid pace, so if we don’t design for flexibility, we will be stuck in the past. Portugal is attracting real estate investment from all over the world, and this puts pressure on projects to invest heavily in strategic design,” she said. “As such, our international experience in developing large masterplanning projects can add value to the Portuguese market,” she added.

With five projects in the country, two of which are on the outskirts of Lisbon, Panattoni believes that “Portugal is a very interesting market for us” — so much so that “we recently completed our fifth acquisition,” said Arantxa Prado.

Speaking at an Investors Talk where international investors shared first-hand experience of the Portuguese market, the Senior Director of Capital Markets at the industrial and logistics developer noted that “at the moment, I see Lisbon as a much more attractive market than other competitors in Iberia”, despite ongoing challenges such as complex and slow licensing processes and limited land availability.

As a result, the group plans not only to continue strengthening its investment in Portugal but also to diversify it. “In logistics, we are mainly focused on the Lisbon and Porto regions, but at this stage we are also closely exploring opportunities to enter the data centre sector. We love Portugal!”

This also appears to be the path taken by AM Alpha, the German family office that has made several investments in Portugal in recent years, particularly in the office and retail sectors. “Lisbon continues to be a fantastic destination where companies and people want to settle. That, in itself, represents a great opportunity,” said Rafael Macia, Head of Iberia at AM Alpha, adding that “we are very keen to invest in the Build-to-Rent sector in Portugal.”

“The real estate investment landscape in Portugal has changed radically in recent years,” commented Jorge Bota, Managing Partner at B.Prime. “Across Europe, markets do not function in exactly the same way at the same time, so it is crucial that we are able to explain to investors the strong opportunities that still exist across virtually all sectors. For example, four or five years ago no one wanted to hear about retail, but in the last couple of years that has changed dramatically. Similarly, offices present very strong opportunities here today, which may be less obvious to investors from northern Europe.”

Offices are, incidentally, one of the core components of the Entrecampos project — the new urban hub being developed in Lisbon by Fidelidade Property — and were among the major projects presented on the afternoon of the 11th by Michael Purefoy of Fosun Europe.

“We are going to redefine the office market in Lisbon,” he said, adding that the first building, which will house Fidelidade Property’s European headquarters, is just weeks away from completion. “Entrecampos materialises our vision for the future of the city. We have brought together a group of world-renowned architects to design it. It is a project that will not only redefine Lisbon’s office CBD, but also create a new residential neighbourhood and offer a curated mix of street-level retail.”

The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2028, becoming the first neighbourhood in continental Europe to be Wirescore-certified and the first in Portugal to achieve LEED Gold certification.

As the Lisbon region becomes increasingly international, it is also proving attractive for hospitality investment — a sector that is maturing and experiencing strong momentum. This was highlighted by José Gil Duarte, Managing Partner of Horwath Portugal, during the final Investors Talk of the day, which also featured architect Margarida Caldeira, EMEA Chair of Broadway Malyan, and Pedro Seabra, Managing Partner of Refundos Explorer.

The metropolitan approach is fundamental to giving the Lisbon region greater scale in an international context, noted the capital’s mayor, Carlos Moedas, during his visit to the Lisbon Region stand at MIPIM. One of the guest speakers on Wednesday, 11 March, Moedas — who also chairs the AML — emphasised that, when it comes to the investment strategies of major international players, Lisbon’s borders are not confined to the municipality’s boundaries.

That is why pooling efforts between the 18 municipalities that make up the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML) has never made as much sense as it does today. After all, “AML is home to almost three million inhabitants and accounts for 40% of Portugal’s GDP, which places us in a very strong position among European capitals,” said the mayor.

This view was shared on the same stage by the mayor of Vila Franca de Xira, Fernando Paulo Ferreira. “The proximity to the capital, the river, and the main routes in and out of Lisbon is one of the key advantages for investors who come to us,” he said. Addressing investors, the mayor highlighted the advantages of Vila Franca’s territory: “We have excellent conditions for logistics development, as well as for residential development. Our waterfront is highly attractive, and we are investing in the creation of major central hubs which, in the future, will benefit greatly from improvements in rail connections, including a direct train to central Lisbon every eight minutes.

“We also aim to invest significantly in the affordable housing segment, particularly in the Build-to-Rent model, through public-private partnerships.”

Bringing together favourable conditions for the development of this type of project — starting with the availability of land and including, importantly, proximity to the river, which is essential for cooling these infrastructures — the data centre sector is another major area of opportunity in Vila Franca de Xira. In addition to already hosting the second-largest project of its kind currently in operation in the country, the municipality is actively working to attract further investment in the sector, the mayor added.

The final session of the afternoon featured an Investors Talk between Nuno Nunes, CIO of Square AM, and Francisco Fezas Vital, Managing Director of Real Estate at Blackstone, for whom stability is, more than ever, one of the country’s greatest assets for those seeking an international investment destination.

“We are going through a period of increased turbulence, and although this is heightened by the war in Iran, recent years have been marked by a succession of disruptive events. As investors, we must therefore adapt to navigating this climate of greater uncertainty,” said the representative of the US firm.

In this context, Portugal stands out positively. On the one hand, it is a smaller-scale market compared to others, reflecting the country’s size; on the other, it benefits from being perceived as a stable market — a factor that is particularly valuable in the current environment.

When looking at Lisbon as a metropolitan capital, the opportunities for urban expansion on both banks of the Tagus are immediately apparent, as became clear during the third day of the programme at the Lisbon Pavilion.

On the south bank, just a few minutes by car or boat from central Lisbon, Almada is one of the areas with the greatest growth potential, whether in residential development or in tourism, services and innovation, as highlighted by Hélio Anjos, Director of Urban Development. “We want Almada to be directly connected to the city of Lisbon and we are laying the groundwork to create all the structural conditions — including improving urban mobility — necessary for us to become an increasingly attractive destination with strong infrastructure for those looking to invest.” With this in mind, “around 4,000 new affordable homes will be created in the municipality in the medium term, which is very important to meet the needs of the population. This is especially relevant given that we have the second largest university hub in the region and, as such, a strong focus on innovation, attracting a large young population.”

To the north bank, VIC Properties is leading “the two largest urban regeneration projects currently underway not only in the eastern part of the city, but across Lisbon as a whole”, according to CEO João Cabaça. In addition to Prata Riverside, now in its final stages of completion, he outlined at MIPIM the general plans for the company’s most recent project, which will bring new life to the entire Matinha area, described as “the missing piece to connect the eastern zone of Lisbon to the city centre”. Between the two, “€107 million will be invested in infrastructure alone” by VIC Properties, he revealed, stressing the importance of private capital in revitalising cities.

After lunch, the CEO of Krest Investments, Claude Kandiyoti, invited Paulo Diogo, Municipal Director of Urban Planning at Lisbon City Council, and Ricardo Guimarães, Director of Confidencial Imobiliário, for a lively discussion on “Where & how to invest in Lisbon”. “We arrived in Portugal in 2013 and had the ability to identify opportunities and invest counter-cyclically in various parts of Lisbon. We did so successfully and are therefore an example of how important it is to look a little further ahead in order to identify future development opportunities outside the city centre,” said Claude Kandiyoti. In this context, Paulo Diogo pointed out that “the eastern area of Lisbon is currently one of the most interesting for investors and has the greatest potential for development and appreciation”, listing several key projects that will transform the entire area. “Today Lisbon is an attractive market not because it is the cheapest, but because it offers strong appreciation,” added Ricardo Guimarães.