Which of the Fund's achievements are you most proud of?
I am most proud of the fact that we have collected all of our rents, have an occupancy rate of 98.5%, and have excellent diversification across countries, industries, and companies. Our financial results are wonderful. All of this is due to the strong commitment of Accolade's international team and the trust of our investors, tenants, and business partners. I value that! Moreover, for the last ten years, we have been building the economic infrastructure of countries, always with the environment in mind. We are the largest fund in the Czech Republic and certainly have the ambition and potential to go further.
What are your wishes and vision for the Fund in the coming years, in light of its tenth anniversary?
For the Fund, our shareholders, our tenants, the Accolade team and ourselves, the founders, I would love to see us repeat all the successes of our first ten years. The key for us is to maintain occupancy and successfully collect rents. Vacant properties or non-paying tenants would not only devalue our investors' investments, but also our own, as Accolade Holding, Inc. is still the largest single shareholder of the Accolade Fund. Furthermore, I want us to be able to obtain an investment grade rating for the Fund as soon as possible, so that we can move into the very highest league. In order to do that, we need to be 2-2.5 billion EUR in size, and then to fulfil a lot of other conditions – but these, I believe, will be easily met.
I am proud that we have mostly Czech and Slovak investors. It's great when Czech and Slovak money is smartly invested and makes money abroad. I would like to see more investments from Czech athletes, who unfortunately often invest through Swiss or American banks. They grew up in the Czech Republic and it would be great if they invested here too. It would also be wonderful if more government entities, institutions, and municipalities invested with us. Simply put, money should stay at home, circulate and make money at home. The aforementioned Americans and Swiss are great at this. I am also thinking about new subfunds for the Accolade Fund. We would like to invest outside Europe in order to offer our investors a non-European product and create a global institution. However, I would be even happier with a sub-fund focused on the reconstruction of Ukraine. This is not about size or growth, but about doing the right thing. It would mean that the terrible war was over, and instead of financing weapons and food, we could build new premises in Ukraine for business, and not only for Ukrainian companies. I believe that this would greatly benefit the Ukrainian people and economy, and that our investors, tenants, and business partners would be happy to be involved. The Accolade team would be very proud of that.
What key trends do you expect to see in the world of property investment in the years ahead, and how should the Fund respond to them?
That's a typical question for a fortune teller, but unfortunately, I'm not one! I don't think that the fundamentals will change. Location, property and tenant quality will always be key. Add to that energy, which has to be the right price (competitive) and green. Unlike residential, office, and retail centres, industrial properties become obsolete more slowly. Aesthetics don't play as much of a role. The renovation of old industrial facilities is also natural. In the same way that housing stock is renewed, so too are industrial properties, which is an opportunity for the Accolade Industrial Fund.
In terms of trends, I think there will be continued growth in e-commerce tenants. They make up about 40% of our portfolio today. However, for e-commerce to continue to grow, more distribution centres will need to be built, especially in smaller cities, to allow for the flexibility and delivery economics that are crucial to their business.
Another trend is definitely the return of production back from Asia, or rather to the point of purchase. The growth in wages and thus in living standards and consumption in Asia, plus the growth in automation in Europe, should drive production back to Europe. The need for security and environmental protection will compel us to produce where we consume. Cane sugar imported into Europe from Brazil will never be green enough, for instance. So I expect that new production facilities will also be needed – and that is certainly an opportunity that Accolade wants to be present for.
