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Displaying 10 out of 17 results for "Reverse Convertibles".

Non-Traded REIT Conflicts Run Amok: VRM I, VRM II and MVP, MVP II

Introduction

SLCG has written extensively about pervasive conflicts of interest in non-traded REITs arising because a non-traded REIT's sponsor, advisor, selling agents, and major suppliers are often affiliated entities that benefit more from creating the non-traded REIT than from running the REIT profitably. See our blog posts on REITs. SLCG economists have also published peer-reviewed articles on non-traded REITs, including An Empirical Analysis of Non-Traded REITsi.

A collection of...

This is why UBS paid the SEC $15 Million over Reverse Convertible Structured Products

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a $15 million settlement with UBS over structured products linked to high volatility stocks today. The SEC press release announcing the settlement and its Order Instituting Proceedings are available on the SEC website. This post explains the underlying notes and why UBS may have paid the SEC a substantial settlement over sales practices related to UBS's reverse convertible notes ("RCNs").

UBS sold thousands of structured notes to retail...

More Impossible Trade Prices Caused by Auto-liquidators: Option Combinations

In three previous blog posts, we documented how auto-liquidators execute option trades at distorted prices to their clients' detriment. The price distortions are caused by the price impact of large sell or buy orders on thinly traded securities. These distortions were reversed within minutes, but not before causing investors millions of dollars of unnecessary losses.

In "The Recent Market Turmoil Spells Trouble for Auto-liquidators like Interactive Brokers", we showed that thinly traded...

Only a Faulty Auto-liquidator Pays More for An Option Than it Can Ever Be Worth

In two previous blog posts we documented how auto-liquidators appear to have executed option trades at distorted prices to their clients' detriment on August 24, 2015. The price distortions were caused by massive sell or buy orders on thinly traded securities being dumped into the market by auto-liquidation programs. These distortions were reversed within minutes, but not before causing investors millions of dollars of unnecessary losses.

In "The Recent Market Turmoil Spells Trouble for...

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

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...

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

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...

Why Do Volatility ETPs Reverse Split?

We still get a lot of questions about VXX, TVIX, and all of the other VIX-related exchange-traded products(ETPs). We've talked before about the persistent loss of value due to negative roll yield, as well as issues surrounding TVIX's suspension of share creations. We've also talked about some of the newer volatility products that attempt to mitigate some of the issues with the older generation of products. We've also analyzed whether VIX-based ETFs could serve as a hedge to equity...

Similar Structured Product Premia in US and Europe

One point we've made again and again in our research is that structured products -- debt securities with market-contingent payoffs -- tend to be priced at a premium to face value. We have documented premia in reverse convertibles, autocallables, absolute return barrier notes, principal-protected notes, dual directionals, and over 17,000 individual products freely available in our searchable structured product database.

Recently, the SEC has required structured product issuers to disclose an...

Reverse Convertibles and Event Risk

Reverse convertibles are short-term debt securities issued by banks whose return of principal at maturity is contingent upon the returns of the linked stock. Although these notes typically pay relatively high coupons, they expose investors to losses on the underlying asset, especially if those losses are beyond the trigger level. Academic research shows that these coupons are not adequately compensating the investor for the market risk that they are bearing by investing in the notes. For...

Are ETF Flows Costly to ETF Investors?

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are often lauded for their ability to efficiently create or redeem shares in response to changes in demand for the fund (known as fund flows). However, new research suggests that some ETFs that hold international securities may face transactional frictions that prevent them from tracking their benchmarks as well as other ETFs.

When there is an imbalance between supply and demand for an ETF, authorized participants (APs) create or redeem shares of the ETF to...

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