The Value of Real Property - A Real Estate Panel Discussion

Over the course of 2020, society and the global economy as we know it have changed in so many ways. These changes have impacted the way we purchase, invest, conduct business, and care for our families. The price and accessibility of assets has changed and real estate has been no exception. Valuations have been volatile depending on sector and geographic region— and as the news feed continues to flow, the real estate environment continues to evolve.

Please join James Burron, President of the Canadian Association of Alternative Strategies & Assets as we discuss the recent past, the present, and the anticipated future of the real estate industry. Our panel of industry experts is comprised of Dennis Mitchell, CEO and CIO of Starlight Capital, Don White, CEO and founding partner of Private Pension Partners Inc., Jimmy Shan, Partner and Portfolio Manager at Slate Securities, and Joshua Varghese, VP and Portfolio Manager at CI Investments.

Guest Speaker Biographies:

Dennis Mitchell

Chief Executive Officer & Chief Investment Officer

Starlight Capital

Dennis Mitchell joined Starlight Capital in March 2018 as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer. Dennis has over 20 years of experience in the investment industry and has held executive positions with Sprott Asset Management, serving as Senior Vice-President and Senior Portfolio Manager, and Sentry Investments, serving as Executive Vice-President and Chief Investment Officer.

Mr. Mitchell received the Brendan Wood International Canadian TopGun Award in 2009, 2010, and 2011 and the Brendan Wood International 2012 Canadian TopGun Team Leader Award. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and earned a Master of Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business at York University in 2002 and an Honors Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in 1998.

Don White

Chief Executive Officer & Founding Partner

Private Pension Partners (P3)

As the CEO and a founding partner of Private Pension Partners (“P3”), Don provides the overall leadership and strategic direction for all aspects of P3 including sourcing, developing or re-developing, and then actively asset managing commercial and multi-family built for rental assets in Canada on behalf of P3's family office, pension fund, and institutional investors. With a “long-only” vision for Canadian properties, Don provides an intense focus on manufacturing private real estate at wholesale cost using P3’s existing funds to share their direct access to a steady stream of high-quality investment opportunities with their partners through their established REIT and Feeder Fund investment vehicles.

Jimmy Khin Shan

Portfolio Manager & Partner

Slate Securities

Jimmy is a Partner & Portfolio Manager at Slate Securities, oversees its investments and has over 18 years of experience in equity research and investments. Prior to Slate Securities, he was a Managing Director, Equity Research Analyst at GMP Securities, providing coverage of the Canadian publicly-listed real estate sector.

Jimmy was among the top stock pickers in the real estate category in 2007, 2012, 2013 and 2015 according to Starmine. He was also a highly-ranked analyst according to Brendan Woods surveys. Jimmy worked previously at National Bank Financial, Merrill Lynch and KPMG. He was a co-Author of REIT Foundations, a 330-page compilation on the basics of investing in Real Estate Investment Trusts. He holds a Masters of Business Administration and Bachelor of Business Administration from Schulich School of Business, York University and a Chartered Accountant/Chartered Professional Accountant designation.

Joshua Varghese

Vice-President, Portfolio Management & Portfolio Manager

Signature Global Asset Management - CI Investments

Joshua Varghese joined CI Investments in 2006 and is a veteran in the global real estate industry. He has specialized in real estate investment management since 2011, when he joined the Signature Global Asset Management investment team. He is responsible for co-managing the largest global listed real estate fund in Canada, the Signature Global REIT Fund, as well as the CI Global REIT Private Pool and ETF, the First Asset real estate mandates. Additionally, he co-manages Signature High Income and Signature Diversified Yield funds, and assists in managing the real estate allocations of Signature’s equity and balanced funds. As a significant investor, Mr. Varghese has worked with many Canadian and international real estate companies on their corporate strategies and capital structure decisions, including IPOs, spinoffs and public market exits. He is a frequent speaker at national real estate conferences such as RealREIT and RealCapital and is a frequent guest on the Business News Network (BNN).

In 2019 and 2020, Brendan Wood International recognized Joshua as a TopGun Investment Mind, an award that singles out individual investment professionals as being the most accomplished professionals in the Canadian investment industry. Joshua holds a Bachelor of International Business from Carleton University and the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Moderator Biography:

James Burron

President

Canadian Association of Alternative Strategies & Assets (CAASA)

James co-founded The Canadian Association of Alternative Strategies and Assets (“CAASA”) in response to industry support for a Canadian alternatives association to serve all aspects including: hedge / alternative strategies, private lending, private real estate, private equity, plus emerging areas where Canada is a leader such as digital assets / blockchain and robo-advisors. Prior to CAASA, James was the Chief Operating Officer of AIMA Canada where his team of three worked with 12 committees to produce 50-60 events per annum across Canada, organize 100+ committee meetings, and increase member numbers over his 7-year tenure from 66 to 164 corporate entities.

James also has experience in research and writing for the CAIA Association as well as serving on CAIA’s Exam Council and as a grader for the Level II portion of the exam. He also had roles in institutional sales and FoHF structuring in Seoul, South Korea, as a Product Manager at ICICI Wealth Management, and an Investment Advisor at RBC Dominion Securities. He graduated from Simon Fraser University with a BBA (Finance).