There have also been unintended consequences, which have been fascinating. On the one hand, you've got a pound that has lost 18% of its value because of Brexit, you've got a lot of spec development which has come off the books. So all of a sudden, a market which had a gazillion cranes in the sky and had everybody really worried is starting to police itself and cancelling a lot of these spec projects which could have been drivers of overbuilding. So that's very positive.

Another thing that's going on is the seesaw between London and New York, in terms of where investors are looking for security and safety and the capital flow from China. So on the one hand you have Brexit, and everybody says, “Run for the hills, maybe I'm going to start focusing on New York City.” On the other hand, you have Donald Trump being elected with his immigration policies, and you have investors in the Middle East and maybe China saying, 'Wait a minute, now I'm going to take a pause on New York. Maybe London doesn't feel so bad to me.”

So it's impossible to tell where all of this is going to shake out. But one thing's for sure: London is on the map and it's going to be a strong financial center 10 years from now. The fact of the matter is that London is 10 times the office market of Frankfurt. You hear all of this buzz about passporting jobs out of London to Frankfurt or even Dublin. It just isn't going to happen. We've been very bullish on London and are continuing to invest there.

GlobeSt.com: Out of this, do you see opportunities opening up for investors in general and for Madison International in particular?

Dickerman: We have a number of investments in the US, the UK and Western Europe, and we have quite a few things going on consistent with our investment strategy. We tend to look at large, chunky, prime portfolios where we can recapitalize balance sheets to allow sponsors to extend the holding period and capitalize on value creation. We also replace existing partners in real estate joint ventures where they're looking for exits, and then lastly we also do a lot of public to private investing. For example, we have a joint venture with Forest City Realty Trust in which we may increase our equity. Those are just some of the vibes that are keeping us busy.

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NEW YORK CITY—Slightly less than 11 months ago, UK voters approved a referendum to exit from the European Union, a surprise outcome that Ronald Dickerman, founder and president of Madison International Realty, called “the wrong decision.” He added, though, that the vote represented “the beginning of a long period of negotiation.”

Since then, the UK has elected a new prime minister, Theresa May, who has moved decisively to begin those negotiations. GlobeSt.com caught up with Dickerman, whose firm is active in the British capital and global financial center, for his views on what has taken place since that historic referendum.

GlobeSt.com: The referendum took place this past June, and in fact you were on the ground in London when it took place. Since then, there has been movement toward making the Brexit a reality. How long do you anticipate this will take to unfold, and are there near-term implications for London as a financial and real estate center?

Ronald Dickerman: We always knew this would be a slow burn and that there would be twists and turns along the way. That's indeed what has happened. At the end of the day, the general view is that the UK isn't likely to do something that would cut off their nose to spite their face, so to speak. It's really an economic issue in terms of what will motivate them, although it was a political issue in terms of what triggered the referendum in the first place.

There have also been unintended consequences, which have been fascinating. On the one hand, you've got a pound that has lost 18% of its value because of Brexit, you've got a lot of spec development which has come off the books. So all of a sudden, a market which had a gazillion cranes in the sky and had everybody really worried is starting to police itself and cancelling a lot of these spec projects which could have been drivers of overbuilding. So that's very positive.

Another thing that's going on is the seesaw between London and New York, in terms of where investors are looking for security and safety and the capital flow from China. So on the one hand you have Brexit, and everybody says, “Run for the hills, maybe I'm going to start focusing on New York City.” On the other hand, you have Donald Trump being elected with his immigration policies, and you have investors in the Middle East and maybe China saying, 'Wait a minute, now I'm going to take a pause on New York. Maybe London doesn't feel so bad to me.”

So it's impossible to tell where all of this is going to shake out. But one thing's for sure: London is on the map and it's going to be a strong financial center 10 years from now. The fact of the matter is that London is 10 times the office market of Frankfurt. You hear all of this buzz about passporting jobs out of London to Frankfurt or even Dublin. It just isn't going to happen. We've been very bullish on London and are continuing to invest there.

GlobeSt.com: Out of this, do you see opportunities opening up for investors in general and for Madison International in particular?

Dickerman: We have a number of investments in the US, the UK and Western Europe, and we have quite a few things going on consistent with our investment strategy. We tend to look at large, chunky, prime portfolios where we can recapitalize balance sheets to allow sponsors to extend the holding period and capitalize on value creation. We also replace existing partners in real estate joint ventures where they're looking for exits, and then lastly we also do a lot of public to private investing. For example, we have a joint venture with Forest City Realty Trust in which we may increase our equity. Those are just some of the vibes that are keeping us busy.

For further reading: