Willis Holds Comprehensive Real Estate Forum April 21 in Atlanta

Willis North America’s Distressed Assets Practice, a unit of Willis Group Holdings, the global insurance broker will offer a comprehensive real estate insights forum to help investors assess the risks and rewards associated with acquiring distressed real estate April 21, 2011 at 4pm at King & Spalding Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia.

Published on April 20, 2011

An estimated $1.4 trillion in commercial real estate loans will need to be refinanced between now and 2014, according to industry reports. Of those, about 60% are “under water” where the loan exceeds the value of the asset. As such, sales of distressed properties are gaining momentum and this trend is expected to continue this year.

“While enormous opportunities exist in this space, buyers of distressed real estate also face a variety of potential liabilities ranging from environmental exposures to incomplete construction projects,” said Brian Ruane, Leader, Distressed Assets Practice, Willis North America. “These potential pitfalls underscore the need for buyers to adopt a sound strategy to reduce and mitigate risks.”

Willis’ real estate insights forum brings together Atlanta’s premier professional real estate partners and leading experts including, real estate brokers, legal advisors, accounting professionals and insurance and risk management experts. The forum is part of an ongoing series to provide buyers with expert guidance of this complex marketplace.

Topics of discussion include the investor landscape, owner/operator challenges, risk identification and mitigation strategies, recent market activity and market forecast. The audience will include real estate investors, private equity funds, institutional investors, private investors, financial institutions, special services, real estate receivers and asset managers.

The Willis Distressed Assets Practice coordinates specialist capabilities from across Willis’ practice areas to structure insurance programs that respond to a range of risk management and insurance issues related to distressed assets. Major areas of focus include Property, Liability and Environmental insurance; Forced Placed coverage; insurance for Real Estate Owned assets; Professional Liability insurance and Construction insurance for incomplete projects.