It's a privilege to welcome to our series, special guest Michael Gutman OBE - Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Assembly Funds Management and one of Australia's most experienced property specialists.

Launched in 2019 in a partnership between Michael Gutman, the Lowy Family Group and Alceon, Assembly is a funds management platform targeting strong risk adjusted returns across the Australasian real estate sector with an opportunistic and flexible mandate to invest in assets across market cycles.

To-date it's inaugural fund, The Australian Diversified Property Fund 1 (ADPF) has secured over $285m of equity commitments for a portfolio of logistics, residential, mixed-use, large format retail & alternative assets with a target net IRR of 10-12% - the business has currently invested in twelve opportunities taking the fund to 70% drawn.

Prior to founding Assembly, Michael spent close to twenty-five years with Westfield, rising to Global President and Chief Operating Officer leading globally significant projects in Australia, the UK and the US including Westfield Fountain Gate and Doncaster, Westfield Century City and Valley Fair and Westfield London & Westfield Stratford City to name a few.

Under his tenure, Michael was directly responsible for over 1,000 personnel across the business including in the fields of development, design, construction, leasing, management and marketing working hand-in-hand with the company's senior leadership team and founders Sir Frank Lowy AC, Steven Lowy AM and Peter Lowy before the business was acquired by Unibail Rodamco in 2018 in a $23bn transaction.

More broadly, Michael has spent over four decades deeply embedded within global real estate markets via executive positions with Mirvac, Ellison Investments and Lendlease and was also recently a Director of the European Australian Business Council for some two and a half years.

In his first major in-depth interview, our discussion with Michael will explore his storied life, his participation in the leadership team responsible for Westfield's enormous success, his current business interests and the key learnings he can share for those looking to emulate the career of one of the Country's most successful business people.