ABSTRACT
The chasm between the French and the American investors finally broke open at the Urban Land Institute's (ULI) European annual conference in Paris in 1997. The Americans were high-return investors, and their investing style was founded on unearthing value in distressed markets. In Paris, at the lowest point, they brought cash to capital-starved markets. When Francois Trausch entered that data room in Paris following the crash, it was clear amid the papers, files and spreadsheets, that nothing about this looked like a regular property deal. Trausch was working for one of the new US investors in town, and he soon found himself steeped in a brand-new way of thinking about property. American capital sliced right through the status quo, and they were losing control of their own market. It was expected to be a much deeper market but the early sales to the Americans did indeed set the floor for prices, allowing realistic buying and selling to once again begin.
