Join RICS Member Julien Romanet for a deep-dive into the GCC's institutional real estate market, currently defined by a $1.68 Trillion pipeline of planned and underway projects. This session will provide an investment perspective on the dynamic landscape shaped by sovereign wealth fund mandates, unprecedented capital influx, and the critical need for diversification.
The webinar will focus on the unique regional challenges - including the scarcity of large, stabilized, institutional-grade assets and issues with data transparency in markets like KSA, UAE, and Bahrain. Critically, we will quantify the returns and strategic fit of emerging sectors, featuring case studies on Saudi Arabia's $21 Billion commitment to Digital Infrastructure and the growth of e-commerce driven Logistics in Dubai.
We will also explore how innovation, such as fractional ownership and tokenization are addressing regional liquidity and scale issues.
Speaker
Julien Romanet is a Senior Director of Investments at JD.com with over 20 years of extensive experience in private equity real estate. A French national, Julien specializes in cross-border investments, with a strong focus on bridging the Middle East with global markets.
Julien holds a unique blend of technical and strategic expertise, backed by dual Master's degrees in Civil Engineering from UCLA and International Strategy from ESSEC Business School. He has successfully led approximately $3 billion in closed investments across various asset classes, including income-generating office buildings and the development of living and logistics properties. His career spans key global markets, including France, Luxembourg, Russia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, where he was based and has navigated complex deal structures, including both conventional and Shariah-compliant finance. His strategies consistently emphasize value creation and have generated significant returns for a diversified group of institutional investors.
Today based in Dubai, Julien currently leverages his deep market knowledge to curate a future-proof logistics investment portfolio for JD.com, focusing on both existing assets and developments in the Middle East. The company recently announced its first warehouse acquisition in Dubai and its inaugural development in Abu Dhabi in partnership with the airport authority.
A lifelong learner, Julien recently completed the Advanced Management and Development Program at Harvard University (2025) and the Real Estate Management Program at Harvard Business School (2023). He is an active member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and an amateur triathlete.