- back -
Bernard Cardon de Lichtbuer
Bernard was born in Antwerp in 1936.
He is married and has 4 children and 7 grand children.
Education:
University degrees in economics at the Universities of Louvain (Belgium) and Paris,
Career:
Financial career in several listed companies in the electricity
(Tractionel, Ebes, Unerg), and non ferrous sectors (Union Minière,
Vieille Montagne).
He has been the chairman of the Belgian Association of Pension Funds
(1984-1988) and has negotiated with the government the new regulations
governing the pension fund industry.
In 1983, to allow the pension fund of his company to invest in real
estate, he founded a small property fund with a few other institutions
for an amount of 6 million €.
That fund, Cofinimmo, became one of the leading listed property companies in Europe.
When he retired in April 2002, the total assets amounted for 1.6 billion €.
He has personally been the principal lobbyist and negotiator for the
introduction of a REIT-like legislation in his country (SICAFI) and has
been active, within EPRA, in the promotion of such an instrument at the
European level (Euro-REIT).
Bernard has been among the promoters of Urban Land Institute (ULI) in
Europe and is past-chairman of the Belgian district council and is
Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
He has been again chair of the Belgian Association of Pension Institutions (ABIP) from 2003 to 2006.
He is teaching at the Solvay Business School in the Executive Program in Real Estate.
Beginning 2005 he started a development project in Niger, called
Azawagh, which objectives are to provide water, education, and other
facilities for nomadic populations in the Republic of Niger.
(Update march 2008)