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Our experts frequently write blog posts about the findings of the research we are conducting.

Displaying 41-50 out of 118 results for "Mutual Fund".

Further Reckoning of UBS Willow Fund's CDS Losses

(Feb 2014)

In previous blog posts we explained how the UBS Willow Fund completed its spectacular multi-year collapse in 2012 largely as a result of its leveraged portfolio of credit default swap (CDS) contracts. See Credit Default Swaps on Steroids: UBS's Willow Fund and Willow Fund's Hedging, Investing and Speculating in Distressed Debt With Credit Default Swaps. Through these CDS contracts, the Willow Fund made a large, highly-leveraged short bet on credit risk contrary to its repeated SEC...

The Inland Group's Non-Traded REITs Destroyed $11.9 Billion of Investor Wealth

(Feb 2014)

Last week we wrote about how investors in a non-traded REIT, Inland Diversified Real Estate Trust, had lost $200 million compared to traded REITs even though it announced a merger with a traded REIT, covered in our blog post"More Non-Traded REIT Carnage: Inland Diversified's Investors Have Lost 40%, Not Gained 31%".

Continuing our blog posts and working papers on non-traded REITs, today we report on how investors fared in five non-traded REITs sponsored by affiliates of The Inland Real...

More Non-Traded REIT Carnage: Inland Diversified's Investors Have Lost 40%, Not Gained 31%

(Feb 2014)

As we have explained in several blog posts and working papers, non-traded REITs are illiquid, poorly diversified real estate investments that destroy investor's wealth compared to liquid, diversified real estate investments.

Inland Diversified Real Estate Trust, Inc. ("Inland Diversified") is a non-traded REIT that invests in retail properties, office properties, industrial properties, and multi-family properties. Yesterday, Inland Diversified announced that it was merging with Kite Realty...

Willow Fund's Hedging, Investing and Speculating in Distressed Debt With Credit Default Swaps

(Jan 2014)

In a recent post we demonstrated how the Willow Fund's purchase of credit default swaps evolved from hedging a portion of its distressed debt to swamping the portfolio with enormous short positions in distressed debt. In this post, we explain why the Willow Fund's use of credit default swaps was inconsistent with its repeated disclosures that:
... The Fund may use a variety of special investment techniques to hedge a portion of its investment portfolio against various risks or other factors...

Credit Default Swaps on Steroids: UBS's Willow Fund

(Jan 2014)

We previously published a working paper on how investors in Oppenheimer's Champion Income Fund lost 80% in 2008 when peer group funds lost about 25%. Our Champion Income Fund paper is available on our website. Oppenheimer had increased Champion Income Fund's exposure to CMBS through credit default swaps and total return swaps in 2007 and 2008. Figure 1 reproduces a figure from our 2010 paper which demonstrates that the leverage Oppenheimer took on through the swaps fully explained the...

Another Example of Non-Traded REITs' Wealth Destruction: Columbia Property Trust (Wells REIT II) Cost Investors $4.4 Billion

(Jan 2014)

Non-traded REITs are illiquid investments, not listed on public exchanges and with little to no secondary market trading. Their offering documents typically claim that after some period of time, perhaps 5-10 years, the REIT intends to list on an exchange, merge with another company, or in some other way allow investors to sell their shares but for many non-traded REITs, this "liquidity event" never occurs.

However, even if a non-traded REIT lists on a major exchange, that does not mean that...

El Uso de Apalancamiento en Los Fondos Cerrados UBS Puerto Rico Magnifica Las Pérdidas

(Jan 2014)

Durante el año 2013, los fondos de bonos de UBS Puerto Rico sufrieron grandes pérdidas. Estas pérdidas fueron agresivamente rápidas, especialmente considerando que los títulos de renta fija tienden a ser inversiones más seguras. En entradas anteriores a nuestro blog hemos argumentado algunas de las razones de las precipitosas pérdidas y hemos hablado de las sutilezas transaccionales de los bonos. Además, hemos discutido los conflictos de intereses entre los gestores de los fondos y los...

The Use of Leverage in the UBS Puerto Rico Closed-End Funds Magnified Losses

(Jan 2014)

The massive declines that hit investors in the UBS Puerto Rico closed-end bond funds in 2013 were especially quick and brutal for fixed income securities which are usually safer investments. In previous posts we have discussed some of the reasons for the precipitous fall in the values of the bond funds and some of the nuances of bond transactions that may have given rise to conflicts of interest between the fund managers and investors. In this post, we will discuss another culprit in the...

Behringer Harvard / TIER REIT Illustrates How Non-Traded REIT Sponsors and Brokers Have Siphoned $10 Billion to $20 Billion (and Counting) From Investors

(Jan 2014)

Sponsors have issued, and brokers had sold, over $85 billion of non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs) by the end of 2012. These investments are illiquid, high-commissioned, poorly diversified real estate investments. Despite their glaring defects another $20 billion of non-traded REITs were sold to investors in 2013.

Sponsors and brokers have siphoned off at least $20 billion from investors through their sales of non-traded REITs up through 2012. We illustrate the calculation of...

Did UBS Charge its Proprietary Puerto Rico Bond Funds Excessive Markups? Part II

(Jan 2014)

We have previously posted several blog posts about UBS Puerto Rico's collapsing closed-end municipal bond funds including: Trouble in Paradise: UBS Puerto Rico Bond Fund Investors Hit Hard, Diversification and UBS Puerto Rico Bond Fund Losses, Did UBS Charge its Proprietary Puerto Rico Bond Funds Excessive Markups? and Merry Christmas from UBS Asset Managers of Puerto Rico.

UBS has argued that since we couldn't identify which trades in the EMMA data were the UBS bond fund trades and UBS...

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