Knowledge@Wharton Presents the Second Real Estate Forum on December 11 at the New York Stock Exchange

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Knowledge@Wharton, the online research and business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, will present the second Knowledge@Wharton Real Estate Forum, The Road to Recovery: Investing in the Global Real Estate Rebound, which will be held at the New York Stock Exchange on December 11, 2009. The Forum will bring together investors, academics, developers and financial experts to tackle the challenges of economic recovery in global property markets and to discuss investment strategies that are shaping the global real estate rebound.

“After more than two years of turmoil, property markets around the globe are staging a gradual recovery even though they remain far below the heights reached during the boom years”

Participants will discuss and debate investing in distressed property, emerging sources of funding, and niche opportunities in housing and commercial markets, among other topics. Keynoting will be chairman and CEO, Starwood Capital Group, Barry Sternlicht with a candid address on why he is betting on distressed real estate. Peter Linneman, Professor of Real Estate, Finance and Public Policy, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania will interview Sam Zell, chairman, Equity Group Investments on what the future of real estate will look like. Lair Krähenbühl, state housing secretary and president of the State Urban Development Agency (CDHU), in São Paulo, Brazil will discuss best practices in affordable housing and other lessons that can be learned from the real estate market in Brazil.

Panels and one-on-one interviews will be moderated by Wharton faculty, Knowledge@Wharton editors and analysts, Dennis Kneale, Anchor, Power Lunch, CNBC and Bruce Upbin, Managing Editor, Forbes.

“After more than two years of turmoil, property markets around the globe are staging a gradual recovery even though they remain far below the heights reached during the boom years,” said Mukul Pandya, Editor-in-Chief and Executive Director, Knowledge@Wharton. “Our Second Real Estate Forum concentrates on this rebound -- U.S. government funding has started to move through banks into the real estate sector and tax incentives such as deductions for home buyers and sellers are encouraging more market activity. Meanwhile, in emerging markets such as China and India, overall economic growth has helped to spur increased investment activity.”

Experts from around the globe who will participate in the Forum include: Frederick Cooper, SVP, finance, international development and investor relations, Toll Brothers, Inc., USA; Gerardo de Nicolás, CEO, Homex, Mexico; Pietro Doran, chairman and principal partner, Doran Capital Partners, Korea; Barden Gale, CEO, J.E. Robert Companies, USA; Bruce Gardner, managing director, MLP – Multinational Logistics Partnership, Russia; Gary Garrabrant, CEO, Equity International, USA; Jackson Hsieh, vice chairman, global head – Real Estate, Lodging & Leisure, UBS, USA; Grant Kelley, founder and CEO, Holdfast Capital, Hong Kong; James B. Lockhart III, vice chairman, Wilbur Ross & Co LLC, USA; Laila Macharia, CEO, Scion Real, Kenya and Jeffrey H. Schwartz, chairman, Global Logistic Properties, China and Japan.

A complete program, additional speakers and registration information can be found at http://www.knowledge-events.com.

About Knowledge@Wharton

Knowledge@Wharton is a free biweekly online resource that captures knowledge generated at the Wharton School and beyond through such channels as research papers, conferences, speakers, books, and interviews with faculty and other business experts on current business topics. The Knowledge@Wharton network – which includes Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese and Indian editions -- has more than 1.31 million subscribers worldwide and contains more than 2,000 articles and research papers in its database.

About The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania -- founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school -- is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The school has more than 4,700 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 10,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of more than 85,000 graduates.

Knowledge@Wharton Real Estate Forum is produced by InterConnect Events. For more information, please visit www.interconnect-events.com.