How Does VolDex Stack Up to the VIX?
(Nov 2013)
We've talked a lot about the idea of using volatility to hedge equity exposure. The basic finding, from our research work and that of others, is that the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) hedges the S&P 500 fairly well. Unfortunately, the VIX is not investable, but is a complicated calculation based on a large strip of options contracts -- i.e., contracts of varying moneyness. Proxies for the VIX, such as rolling VIX futures strategies, are much worse hedges and have a number of problems that make...
Study Finds that the Average PE Investor Just Breaks Even
(Nov 2013)
Brendan Conway over at Barron's pointed out an interesting new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research entitled: Valuing Private Equity. Private Equity (PE) investments -- typically called limited partnerships (LPs) -- are long-term, illiquid securities representing (perhaps not surprisingly) an equity interest in a private company. Investors are typically referred to as limited partners. The study notes that while private equity returns tend to be high, "it remains controversial...
'Tailored' Exchange Traded Funds
(Nov 2013)
Issuers of new exchange traded funds (ETFs) have a problem: how to attract enough investment to keep the fund alive. ETFs have a relatively high turnover rate, and many of the funds that fail simply never gained significant assets under management. Also, if the fund is not traded frequently, it is likely to have a wide bid-ask spread, further reducing investor interest.
One solution that a few ETF issuers have recently adopted involves building ETFs with a particular customer in mind. Back in...
Conflicts of Interest in TIC Investments
(Oct 2013)
We have been discussing the value of TICs from a financial standpoint, but like most private placement investments, there are many other factors to consider than just the numbers. TICs have a wide array of problematic features that retail investors might not think to look for.
For example, most TICs require unanimous consent of all investors for major decisions regarding refinancing or selling the property. A TIC can be sold to up to 35 investors, making unanimous consent extremely difficult....
A Look Into the TIC Industry
(Oct 2013)
So far, we've discussed some of the concerns we have with TIC investments and shown how to use discounted cash flow analysis to value a TIC interest with our handy spreadsheet. But you might be asking, just how prevalent are these concerns across all TICs?
To answer that, we examined 194 sets of offering documents for TICs sold from 2004-2009. This totaled $2.2 billion in equity, which amounts to approximately 19% of all equity issued by TICs in that period, and included properties from 32...
Welcome to Tenancies-in-Common (TIC) Week on the SLCG Blog
(Oct 2013)
Today, SLCG posted a new research paper, Large Sample Valuations of Tenancies in Common . In it, we value 194 TICs, totaling $2.2 billion in equity and representing approximately 17% of the TIC industry from 2004 to 2009. Our paper complements our earlier research on TICs ("What is a TIC Worth?" and "Private Placement Real Estate Valuation"), and is the most extensive empirical study of TICs to date. This week we will be summarizing the results of our research in a series of blog posts. But...
Another Non-Traded REIT Lists Shares, Revealing Losses
(Oct 2013)
Shares of non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs) were sold in large amounts during the real estate bubble of 2005-2007. Without an observable trading price, sponsors simply fixed the share price of non-traded REITs at $10 per share. As real estate markets have collapsed and now begun to recover, it has been difficult to ascertain just how much those $10 shares have changed in value. Non-traded REIT sponsors are now required to estimate per-share net asset values, which have...
Fidelity to Launch Mutual Fund Based on Hedge Fund Strategy
(Oct 2013)
We see it again and again: complex investment strategies packaged into traditionally conservative investments. We have seen corporate debt linked to exotic derivatives positions (structured products), exchange-traded products linked tocomplex futures positions (commodities and volatility ETPs), variable annuities linked to options strategies (structured product based variable annuities), and even certificates of deposit with complex payoff structures (structured CDs). Now, we are seeing more...
SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review (Part I) - October 4th, 2013
(Oct 2013)
SEC Files Fraud Charges Against Universal Travel Group, Its Former CEO and Chair, Jiangping Jiang, and Its Former Director, Secretary and Interim CFO, Jing Xie
September 27, 2013, (Litigation Release No. 22823)
The SEC announced the filing of "fraud and related charges against Universal Travel Group, a China-based travel services company, its former CEO and Chair, Jiangping Jiang, and its former Director, Secretary and Interim CFO, Jing Xie." According to the SEC, Jiang and Xie "failed to...
SLCG Research: Structured Product Based Variable Annuities
(Sep 2013)
In 2010, AXA Equitable began issuing a new kind of variable annuity that, in addition to traditional mutual fund-like subaccounts, also included an option for a structured product-like crediting formula linked to an underlying index such as the S&P 500. Our firm had done a lot of work on both structured products and variable annuities, so in late 2011 we started analyzing the structured product embedded in AXA's product, eventually writing a short research paper on the subject which we...
