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

Displaying 51-60 out of 176 results for "Latest Non-Traded REIT Valuations: Not Good".

NYRT's Listing is More Evidence That Even the Non-Traded REITs Winners Are Losers

(Apr 2014)

The non-traded REIT, American Realty Capital New York Recovery REIT, Inc., renamed New York REIT, became a listed REIT this week. It opened at $10.70 and closed at $10.75 on April 15, 2014. Yesterday, April 16, 2014, it closed at $10.55 and today it closed at $10.62. We've posted extensively about the evils of non-traded REITs. You can find our previous blog posts on Non-Traded REITs to learn more.

The April 16, 2014 Wall Street Journal's "New York REIT Starts Fast" quotes Nicholas Schorsch...

Risk and Return in UBS's Willow Fund

(Mar 2014)

In four blog posts we have detailed the fall of UBS's Willow Fund. See Credit Default Swaps on Steroids: UBS's Willow Fund, Willow Fund's Hedging, Investing and Speculating in Distressed Debt With Credit Default Swaps, Further Reckoning of UBS Willow Fund's CDS Losses and UBS Intentionally Misled Willow Fund Investors About its Troubled CDS Portfolio.

The spectacular collapse of the Willow Fund was not the result of general market conditions operating on the Fund's disclosed investment...

UBS Intentionally Misled Willow Fund Investors About its Troubled CDS Portfolio

(Feb 2014)

In three blog posts we explained how the UBS Willow Fund's decision to make a large, highly-leveraged short bet on credit risk contrary to its repeated SEC disclosures caused investors to lose over $200 million between 2007 and 2012 . See Credit Default Swaps on Steroids: UBS's Willow Fund, Willow Fund's Hedging, Investing and Speculating in Distressed Debt With Credit Default Swaps and Further Reckoning of UBS Willow Fund's CDS Losses.

As we demonstrated in our earlier blog posts, the second...

Structured Product Based Variable Annuites are Riskier Than Advertised

(Feb 2014)

My colleagues and I have a paper in the current (Winter 2014) Journal of Retirement about structured product based variable annuities (spVAs), which are variable annuities with index-linked accounts that have a payoff similar to structured products. We have been following the market for spVAs since they were first introduced in 2010, and distributed our first working paper in 2011. Since then, three issuers have sold more than $3 billion worth of spVAs, according to a recent article in...

High Concentration in Puerto Rico Municipal Bonds Results in Losses for Investors in Oppenheimer Rochester Funds

(Feb 2014)

2013 was a tough year for investors in Puerto Rican municipal bonds. Figure 1 shows a broad index of U.S. municipal bonds--the S&P Municipal Bond Index--and a regional index focusing on Puerto Rican municipal bonds--the S&P Municipal Bond Puerto Rico Index. While both indexes moved in tandem from 2000 until 2012, the Puerto Rico index shows a much sharper drop in 2013 as the island's economy continued its prolonged contraction. Puerto Rico's 2012 GDP was 12% below its 2006 GDP, according to...

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...

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