Attendance was an all-time low at MIPIM, around 18,000 down from 30,000 a couple of years ago, and the difference is instantly recognisable when walking down La Croisette or looking at the restaurants. MIPIM has always had a “grey market” where many developers turned up to Cannes looking to strike deals with colleagues from abroad without going into “the bunker”, ie not attending the show itself. Unofficial figures put arrivees around 55,000 people a couple of years ago, when pedestrians spilled off crammed pavements into the street holding up traffic, and large cash bribes for the waiter to squeeze an extra table in somewhere in the heaving restaurant was the norm. This year most restaurants were empty, and you were not dazzled walking down the Croisette by the distinctive yellow ribbons around the necks of those bearing the coveted MIPIM badge. This hasn’t stopped the ticket price going up, from €900 a few years ago to €1,800 per person this year.

The main topic of conversation was how cold it is, with grey weather and a biting wind coming off the Mediterranean sea. Normally the most prestigious events occur on the beaches, but this year developers were quick to exchange cards whilst clutching drinks with frozen fingers, before retiring back to the warm bars and restaurants.

No conversation was complete without discussing the arrest of Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz, the two billionaire property developer brothers that were arrested in London a few hours before they were due to arrive at MIPIM. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO), who carried out raids on their offices and arrested the brothers Wednesday morning, are investigating their links to Kaupthing Bank in which they are major shareholders. Robert Tchenguiz somehow managed to borrow around €2bn just before the bank collapsed owing the UK Treasury €2.8bn. The brothers deny any wrong-doing, but there was a lot of “will they, won’t they” as to whether they would turn up to their planned party in MIPIM on the yacht “Vini Vidi Vici”. The party was postponed until Friday, where it did go ahead for the 70 or so guests but without the brothers. Another couple of well known MIPIM brothers, Peter and Fraser Morrison, failed to impress after shipping guests to a party an hour away from Cannes and then failing to show up. Apparently they were already off on their way to Hong Kong. On the other hand, a figure that is usually controversial, Boris Johnson, was more reliable. A quick perusal of developer and architect blogs show that he pushed quite well the project for the Royal Docks.

This years eye catching project was a resort complex in the Maldives run and staffed entirely by blond women. The firm Olialia behind the project, itself run by blonde women, flew 120 Lithuanian models to MIPIM to promote the project and try and raise €100m to build the complex. They certainly turned a few heads as they walked down the Croisette handing out cards. Their highlight was a party at Da-Da-Da club Wednesday night, where the models mixed with billionaire property developers liberally plied with alcohol, in the hope of securing some support.

Whilst some were shopping for coats to escape the cold, german firm KanAm Grund bought a shopping centre on La Croisette for €75m. Called “65, croisette”, it has 8 shops spread over 1,800m² with brands like Burberry and Yves St Laurent. The deal makes this the most expensive commercial real estate in France to date.

And next year? Reed Midem has just signed an extension of their contract with the Palais des Festival to ensure that the show will continue until 2015. The Palais makes around a third of its profit from the partnership with Reed, including the shows MIPIM, MIDEM, MIPTV, generating around €10m euros.

Though Reed may be happy with Cannes, the grumbling of participants grows louder as Reed tightens its iron grip on the event. It is not just the spiraling price of the ticket, but also the increasing restrictions. First cutting off the port so non-exhibitors could not host yacht parties, and those that did could not invite any guests that did not have ‘bunker’ tickets. Then removing the phone numbers of exhibitors from the directory, a book that is one of the prime reasons people buy a ticket, making it effectively useless. Last year an English firm Drivers Jonas set up a stand in a restaurant Pavillon Croisette some distance away from the Palais, and was successfully sued by Reed. The restaurant was ordered to pay Reed €20,000 and the investment firm €115,000. Now there is a rumour that Reed takes a slice of the profits of the restaurants during the event. We are not sure how far Reed can squeeze without an adverse reaction. There is already now an event held in London at the same time called “We are not at MIPIM”. However, despite the hiccups and the ever decreasing value for money, the sheer momentum of the event will carry it through to a busy 2012.