Research & market scan including a new product proposal for a European/US real estate alternative investment firm
For two decades, our client has achieved significant success operating closed-end real estate funds tailored for high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) and distributed through banks and wealth advisors. Convinced that this specific product and distribution structure was running out of shelf-life, the client wanted to undertake a Europe-wide market scan to understand what innovations are coming to market in terms of product structure and distribution channels for real estate, alternative and private market products.
Key questions & considerations:
- What legal and regulatory structures are being used?
- What is the utilization of technologies like blockchain, tokenization, crowdfunding, etc., and which are the most popular real estate investment platforms across different European markets?
- Have any new legal or regulatory frameworks emerged recently to streamline product launches for new distribution platforms?
Objectives:
Comparing winning new business models in Europe and scoring feasibility and success rate to decide on next steps for moving current business forward.
Approach & solution:
The project was split into two research phases:
- Initial desk research and interviews with experts and relevant fintech companies.
- Subsequent detailed exploration of the regulatory, legal and compliance landscape.
Using a proprietary assessment and scoring model, we assessed the different offerings based on criteria such as business success, corporate structure, ownership, customer experience, distribution strategies, product offerings (tokenization, crowdfunding, debt offering, etc.), team experience and robustness, KYC/AML implementation, legal framework, futureproofing, and more.
The outcome:
Our findings clearly defined three alternative strategic options for the future development of the firm, which were subsequently presented to the board for further evaluation.