Wednesday, April 8th, 2020 and is filed under Industry Reporting
We recently released our March Private Placement Insights. See the highlights from the report below, or if you are a Premium Reporting subscriber, log in now to see the entire report. If you don’t have access, you can request a free trial.
- 15 new private placements were added to our coverage in March, just below the last couple of months but still well over last year’s levels. The industry continues to be led by real estate focused categories including 1031s and real estate LPs and LLCs.
- As of April 1st, AI Insight covers 178 private placements currently raising capital, with an aggregate target raise of $17.6 billion and an aggregate reported raise of $8.8 billion or 50% of target. The average size of the current funds is $99.1 million, ranging from $3.5 million for a single asset real estate fund to $2.5 billion for a sector specific private equity/debt fund.
- 13 private placements closed in March, having raised approximately 70% of their target and having been on the market for an average of 311 days.
- ON DECK: as of April 1st, there were five new private placements coming soon.
Market Update: COVID-19 Impact on Private Placement Markets
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (the WHO) declared the COVID-19 coronavirus a global pandemic. Trade and travel have since grind to a halt with travel restrictions and stay at home orders issued across the globe. The US and global economies are in recession territory, with GDP in the United States now forecast to decline by 0.2% instead of expanding by 2.0% in 2020 as a result of COVID-19. While the full impact of the global pandemic may take years to determine, the one thing we do know is that it will have a significant impact on all aspects of investing both in the public and private markets. Transactions are slowing across the private placement categories and valuations, which require transactions, may be less reliable or difficult to obtain.
Access the full Private Placements report and other hard-to-find alts data
AI Insight’s Industry Reporting capabilities help you review alternative investment trends and historical market data for Private Placements, Non-Traded REITs, BDCs, Closed-End Funds, and Alternative Mutual Funds. Receive up to 24 extensive reports per year to help broaden your alternative investment reviews.
Log in or subscribe to AI Insight to further research, sort, compare, and analyze all of the private and public funds in our coverage universe. See who’s new in the industry and what trends are impacting the alts space.
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Chart and data as of March 31, 2020, based on programs activated on the AI Insight platform as of this date.
Activated means the program and education module are live on the AI Insight platform. Subscribers can view and download data for the program and access the respective education module.
On a subscription basis, AI Insight provides informational resources and training to financial professionals regarding alternative investment products and offerings. AI Insight is not affiliated with any issuer of such investments or associated in any manner with any offer or sale of such investments. The information above does not constitute an offer to sell any securities or represent an express or implied opinion on or endorsement of any specific alternative investment opportunity, offering or issuer. This report may not be shared, reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, traded, resold or exploited for any purpose. Copyright ©2020 AI Insight. All Rights Reserved.
Friday, March 27th, 2020 and is filed under AI Insight News
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Your daily routine may be in disarray, but it’s business as usual at AI Insight since we have been successfully operating as virtual company for many years. As always, we’re here to help you with your AI Insight needs and anything else that might help you when working remotely.
To be successful working remotely, you need a strategy, focus and a little fun. We’ve compiled some resources that we’ve used in practice to help you accomplish this. |
Get Started
It’s important to designate a specific area that you use solely as your workspace to establish your “work zone” not only for your benefit, but for family members who are at home with you. Traveling around your house with your laptop or working where you sleep invites interruption.
Stay Focused
It’s easy to become distracted by the TV, social media or the pile of dishes in the sink. Creating a schedule for yourself – including breaks and lunchtime as you would at the office – can help you concentrate on your work. Setting a specific work schedule will also help you set expectations for other family members who are at home and help you keep a healthy work-life balance.
Industry Resources
You may be used to attending industry conferences or face-to-face group meetings, which have been postponed or cancelled. AI Insight created a central resource to help you stay connected with industry groups such as ADISA, IPA, FINRA and more. Check back frequently as we will continue to post industry webinar events happening in lieu of conferences.
Technology Resources
Having the right equipment is essential to working from home. But, knowing how to make the most of technology tools can be challenging.
- Zoom is a remote video conferencing and web conferencing service.
- Microsoft Teams is a unified communication and collaboration platform that combines workplace chat, video meetings, file storage, and application integration.
Stay Connected
We all know that miscommunication can happen over email and text. Convey your tone with a phone call instead of email when you can. Even better, turn on your video during online meetings to express your body language. Remember to test out your video feature before you use it publicly, so you can check your background surroundings and test your microphone.
This is also a good opportunity to get to know your co-workers on a personal level. At AI Insight, we’ve created a social channel within our Microsoft Teams platform to talk about topics unrelated to work and share photos on occasions like Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day. This helps us get to know each other better and stay connected.
Be Mindful
We’ve created a “Get Up & Move” rewards program at AI Insight to encourage everyone to walk away from their computer once an hour. We also host quarterly Lunch & Learns to help our team stay healthy in mind and body such as chair yoga sessions and meditation practices. Taking breaks can boost productivity and rejuvenate you when motivation drops.
Contact Us
From everyone at AI Insight, we want you to be safe and healthy. Again, we’ve been incorporating these practices for many years. If there’s something we can help you with on any of these topics, please reach out to us Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at 877-794-9448 ext. 710 or any time at customercare@aiinsight.com.
Monday, March 9th, 2020 and is filed under Industry Reporting
We recently released our February Private Placement Insights. See the highlights from the report below, or if you are an AI Insight Premium Reporting subscriber, log in now to see the entire report.
• 16 new private placements were added to our coverage in February, just below the last couple of months but still well over last year’s levels. The industry is again being led by the real estate focused categories including 1031s and real estate LPs and LLCs.
• As of March 1st, AI Insight covers 182 private placements currently raising capital, with an aggregate target raise of $17.0 billion and an aggregate reported raise of $8.3 billion or 49% of target. The average size of the current funds is $92.6 million, ranging from $3.5 million for a single asset real estate fund to $2.2 billion for a sector specific private equity/debt fund.
• 13 private placements closed in February, having raised approximately 87% of their target and having been on the market for an average of 393 days.
• ON DECK: as of March 1st, there were eight new private placements coming soon.
Access the full Private Placements report and other hard-to-find alts data
AI Insight’s Industry Reporting capabilities help you review alternative investment trends and historical market data for Private Placements, Non-Traded REITs, BDCs, Closed-End Funds, and Alternative Mutual Funds. Receive up to 24 extensive reports per year to help broaden your alternative investment reviews.
Log in or subscribe to AI Insight to further research, sort, compare, and analyze all of the private and public funds in our coverage universe. See who’s new in the industry and what trends are impacting the alts space.
_________________________________
Chart and data as of Feb. 29, 2020, based on programs activated on the AI Insight platform as of this date.
Activated means the program and education module are live on the AI Insight platform. Subscribers can view and download data for the program and access the respective education module.
On a subscription basis, AI Insight provides informational resources and training to financial professionals regarding alternative investment products and offerings. AI Insight is not affiliated with any issuer of such investments or associated in any manner with any offer or sale of such investments. The information above does not constitute an offer to sell any securities or represent an express or implied opinion on or endorsement of any specific alternative investment opportunity, offering or issuer. This report may not be shared, reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, traded, resold or exploited for any purpose. Copyright ©2020 AI Insight. All Rights Reserved.
Monday, August 19th, 2019 and is filed under AI Insight News
Have you recently reviewed your policies and procedures around Alternative Mutual Funds? Use the resources below to help your advisors better understand your firm’s best practices. It’s always best to address areas for improvement prior to market corrections, which seem to highlight such deficiencies.
How would you answer the following questions?
- Does your firm approve all fund company mutual funds?
- Is your firm performing the additional due diligence needed based on continued regulatory guidance?
- Does your firm have an efficient solution to establish and enforce best practices?
Related Regulatory References
Watch the video and view this checklist to learn more.
Tuesday, May 28th, 2019 and is filed under AI Insight News
Improve your research process using AI Insight’s Alternative Mutual Fund Research capabilities. Our alternatives-centric strategy provides comprehensive information covering investment methods to help you apply liquid alternatives in your practice. Watch a short tour
- Conduct Research: Use reports to research quantitative and qualitative data including fund
company, strategy and investment advisor overviews.
- Understand Fund Strategies: Research strategies including managed futures, long-short, market
neutral and alternative allocation.
- Track Performance: Stay current with performance using portfolio-oriented peer groups and
strategy-based benchmarks for comparison insight.
- Grow Your Business: Use tools to expand your knowledge and track your due diligence efforts
to more confidently identify and apply alternative investment solutions.
Tuesday, June 12th, 2018 and is filed under AI Insight News
It was great to connect with many of our industry partners at the recent FINRA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. to discuss regulatory topics relevant to our industry. Here are three key takeaways to consider:
- The industry continues moving forward with a new approach to the standard of care registered representatives must undertake when working with clients. SEC Chairman Clayton was adamant about having industry stakeholders submit comments to help shape the actual outcome of the proposal. He was also quite vocal on the confusion people seem to have around the term “fiduciary” and that he was very much against using it in this proposal. The SEC’s Brett Redfearn provided an overview of Regulation Best Interest and enhancing the standard of conduct for broker-dealers. Read more
- On a suitability panel, “inadequate training relative to products and risks” was noted by FINRA as a common weakness found.
- Heightened diligence and advisor education are needed for the increasingly complex products being offered through traditional ’40 Act structures such as Alternative Mutual Funds and Interval Funds. FINRA mentioned their guidance on complex products as a resource when working with Alternative Mutual Funds, leveraged ETFs, Interval Funds and other alternative investments.
Tuesday, December 19th, 2017 and is filed under AI Insight News
As 2017 comes to a close, AI Insight CEO Sherri Cooke reflects on the past year and looks forward to what’s coming up in 2018.
Q: What are some of the key reflections you have about 2017 and some points of interest for the coming year?
SC: This year we increased the number of RIAs using the AI Insight platform, so I’m glad that we’re able to support RIAs as this channel continues to grow. We look forward to continuing to expand these relationships in 2018. We also made significant upgrades to our AI Insight Education Module functionality, and we’ve received a lot of positive feedback on the updates. We’re always working to make the platform easy to use and add more valuable capabilities.
One of the most exciting highlights as we close out 2017 is the fact that we will be launching a new feature with expanded alternative mutual fund research capabilities in the new year. Advisors will be able to compare the details and financial performance of alternative investment mutual funds with reporting and documentation features our subscribers have come to rely on for more traditional Alternative Investment research. We’ve just hired Lucas Johnson who was a due diligence analyst with National Planning Holdings, Inc., where he specialized in due diligence reviews of liquid alternatives and other alternative investments. He’ll be stepping in to help launch our liquid alternative research program. You’ll see much more about this in the first quarter.
From an industry perspective, there’s been a bit of a relief relative to the DOL Fiduciary Rule implementation date, yet it doesn’t change the focus on compliance and regulatory scrutiny. The continued market run is remarkable, to say the least, inspiring growth and confidence. But that kind of house-of-straws confidence can increase concern about the negative consequences of a potential market correction. Smooth or bumpy, it’s our commitment to help advisors and clients manage the environment no matter what 2018 may bring.
Q: What are some of the major misconceptions you see that advisors have about alternative investments?
SC: A couple of misconceptions come to mind. The first would be that illiquidity or alternatives are intrinsically inferior planning tools. Another would be the challenges around compliance and regulatory scrutiny.
Q: Ok – let’s address the liquidity issue first.
SC:
I don’t believe that liquidity is the true issue. If a client’s portfolio is well diversified including appropriately positioned liquid and illiquid investments, then the illiquidity can actually be a true positive. It can prevent clients from selling investments when their motivation is emotionally-driven or reactive to the market.
Second, some people use the generalized claim that alternatives haven’t performed well over the last several years. As with all securities, some do well and some do not – and as with other investments there have certainly been a share of alternatives that haven’t performed as expected. However, there are a lot that have performed well when diligence has been taken in selecting and vetting – and they have been sold correctly. If a key goal is for alts to be used as a portfolio stabilizer, then we wouldn’t have seen them stand out during the crazy bull markets we’ve experienced. That’s not one of their key purposes. Many advisors want a significant premium for the illiquidity, but I don’t believe you should expect to get both the downside market protection in a bear market and returns that exceed the average in bull markets from the same vehicle.
It’s a challenge for me when I hear the expectation of alts always having to perform. Stocks lose value all the time. It really comes down to making sure these products are properly sold and positioned within client portfolios; and – as with all investments – conducting the best possible research and diligence to select best in class.
Q: You mentioned compliance – we know that compliance is often an issue for advisors in considering alternative investments and regulatory scrutiny continues to increase. What is your experience with compliance issues?
SC: Compliance is one of the things that motivated me to create AI Insight in the first place. I wanted to build capabilities to facilitate due diligence and proper compliance along with education and documentation of these efforts when selling complex products – those products that the regulators have called out as needing heightened supervision or training.
From a company perspective, we have found in any situation of which we’re aware, if you stay up-to-date on the requirements around selling any type of investment – and make sure everyone involved is aware of their obligations, adhering to the process, plus documenting all efforts – then the regulators are generally satisfied. That’s been our experience with our clients and their audits.
If you fail to make these efforts up front and you’re inconsistent in how you conduct your business from a compliance perspective, you’re just leaving yourself open to trouble from a client who ends up unhappy about something or getting in the news for the all the wrong reasons.
Q: You are involved in mentoring young women in the financial industry. Tell us about it.
SC: A group of members of the Investment Program Association (IPA) formed the Women’s Initiative Network (WIN). One of our key goals has been to help promote and support women within the financial services industry, which traditionally has been very male-dominated. I launched our first local initiative with Ohio State University’s Fisher School of Business this past year. We had a group of young women who had an interest in Financial Services get together once a month to hear stories about the journeys of women in our area who have been successful in the financial world.
We talked through some of their concerns and real-life challenges they’ve encountered or that we, as mentors, have experienced. We also introduced them to many unknown and non-mainstream facets of the investment world, which was really exciting.
Q: What is your focus for 2018?
SC: From a business owner’s perspective, ensuring that our team and our product continues to maintain consistent integrity of value and exceptional service; this is the backbone of our business – and making sure that our AI Insight team is challenged and fulfilled in their roles within our company.
From an industry perspective – we believe that there is a tremendous amount of value for advisors to differentiate themselves and bring really great opportunities through the thoughtful and diligent understanding of alternative products. We provide this value by building and bringing together our network of broker-dealers, advisors, RIAs, alternative investment firms and industry partners.
Therefore, as in past years, I always look forward to working with our business partners to explore new possibilities and find what more we can bring to the table for our customers in the new year.
As I’ve already mentioned, I’m excited about developing even more education and support in the liquid alternatives space. These funds are gaining increased awareness from a due diligence and compliance perspective. We currently have education and training for 30 closed-end funds available on our platform and expect to see real growth in this area in the coming year. We’ve expanded our CE course offerings to include a FINRA alternative mutual fund course and a course on interval funds. Plus, we’ve recently published a comprehensive white paper called, “Understanding the Complexities of Liquid Alternatives” to help support these growth plans in 2018. I’m really proud of our efforts when it comes to education on key industry initiatives and concerns, so we are particularly excited about the new plans around the liquid alts sector for the coming year. It’s important to our entire team that we continue to do our very best to evolve with the industry – hopefully always a few steps ahead of the primary curve – to bring our customers what they need to confidently offer their clients a full and rich palette of investment solutions. That’s our goal for 2018…and every year after!
Sherri Cooke is the CEO and founder of AI Insight, Inc. and has been in the financial services industry for over 25 years. Cooke formed AI Insight in 2005 with the primary goal of providing the financial planning community with a consistent database of alternative investment programs.
Wednesday, May 28th, 2014 and is filed under AI Insight News
Broker Dealers are finding the Regulatory focus and the need to provide documentation increasingly demanding – particularly when it comes to offering complex products to their clients. As new regulations are released, a trend toward a fiduciary standard for broker dealers and their advisors appears to be emerging. Read More
