Art Funds Boom Along With Auction Houses, Observer.com (May 14, 2014, 2:58pm), James B. Stewart, With Art, Investing in Genius, The New York Times (Nov. 28, 2014), Katherine Markley, Q&A with Art Fund Association President Enrique Liberman, artnet news (Sep. 9, 2013) //news.artnet.com/market/q-amp-a-with-art-fund-association-president-enrique-liberman-48644. Disclaimer: This article is intended as general information, not legal advice, and is no substitute for seeking representation. South Beach, Miami, FL, Panel Discussion, "Art Funds? (Cardozo ’14) is pursuing her interest in art law and financial regulation in New York. Provenance issues, including forgery, looting events, and misattribution, are also pervasive in the art world and may arise if proper research is not carried out prior to purchase. if you know what it is you know where it's at In addition, there are over 9,000 hedge funds in existence worldwide with assets under management of over $1.7 trillion. After BRPF’s foray into the art fund arena, there were over 50 proposals to create art investment vehicles, some offered even by certain of Wall Street’s most prominent financial institutions. Institutional investors commonly include pension funds, trusts, family offices, insurance companies, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds, among others. Art funds offer many unique advantages to investors. About the Author: Jessica M. Curley, Esq. 21, 2015), Marion Maneker, Mysterious Art Funds—and Why They’re That Way, Art Market Monitor (Mar. Additionally, fine art has an inherent appeal as a luxury good, and depending on the fund, may be loaned out to investors for personal use. 5, 1989). An open-ended fund scheme allows for the admittance of new investors and the withdrawal of current investors throughout the life of the fund. With the art fund industry in its early stages, it has been a challenge for art funds to raise sufficient capital. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Likewise, a former gallery owner or art dealer would likely be overwhelmed by the intricacies of raising money for, and administering, an investment fund. Once works are sold, a 20 percent management fee is skimmed from the net profits. The unifying factor of all art investment vehicles is their focus on the art market, which is characterized by a lack of regulatory authority, deficient price discovery mechanisms, the non-transparency of the market and the subjective value and illiquid nature of fine art. @ De Buck Gallery The collapse of the dot-com bubble in 2001 also fueled the art fund trend as investors looked outside of the market for alternative opportunities. Managers of art funds are typically professionals from the financial industry, who have an interest and/or experience in the art world. Who are art fund managers and what do they do? Art typically holds its value, especially on the higher end, and has consistent performance returns, which are very attractive characteristics to investors. "Masks Around the World" More is known about fee structures than investment strategies. Today there are a number of funds that have successful launched. In doing so, the art fund manager is able to overweight or underweight the fund’s various strategies to reflect trends in, and to capitalize on available opportunities within, the art market. It is worth noting that many of the foregoing strategies are impacted by both the number of available artworks satisfying the investment criteria of the art fund and the amount of capital that an art fund is able to successfully employ before the returns to be made from a particular strategy diminish. Much of that growth is due to the increasing recognition by the investment community that (i) the art market continues to benefit from significant price appreciation, (ii) traditional investments in stocks and bonds over the last decade have generated, and many expect will continue to generate, poor investment returns, (iii) the ownership of art can serve as an inflationary hedge, especially in light of the inflationary monetary policies employed by many countries in response to the 2008 credit crisis and resulting recession, (iv) art funds can produce returns that have little or no correlation to those of more traditional stock and bond investments thereby helping to diversify the overall risk of an investment portfolio, and (v) the lack of regulation of the art market provides unique opportunities for arbitrage that can be exploited for the benefit of art fund investors. Archival quality art and photography prints, frames or canvas. March 4th, 2011 From copyright and contract law to immigration law, authenticity issues, and Nazi-era looted art, the Center for Art Law offers training opportunities to artists, attorneys, students, and scholars to further protect art and cultural heritage. Are art funds a risk to the art market or the global financial system? Most art fund managers employ a diversified investment approach using more than one strategy simultaneously to realize gains for the fund’s investors. Most art funds are private investment vehicles, and as such are not subject to public disclosure and other burdensome regulatory requirements. #ticker dd.last { border-bottom:0px solid #ffffff; } Generally speaking, art funds may adopt broad investment strategies or alternatively may be more refined, for example, focusing on acquiring art of a specific genre or geographical region. The following general discussion relates to those funds seeking to raise capital from U.S. sources. More commonly used are close-ended funds, which, as the term implies, are closed to new investors once the fixed term to raise capital has ended. Art fund managers perform a number of tasks for the fund such as: The fees charged by art fund managers are primarily tied to performance, which serves to align the interests of such managers with those of the art fund’s investors. New York City The two most common fees include a management fee of about 1 to 2 percent, and a performance allocation fee of around 20 percent of the net income of the fund per annum. Art funds may permit up to 35 investors to be non-accredited; however, to do so requires more significant financial disclosures and presents additional challenges with respect to compliance by the art fund with state “blue sky” filings. Cookies and similar technologies allow us to better understand your needs and improve your experience on our website. Is Now The Time?" As a result, it is important to understand the differences between the various strategies as each strategy or combination thereof have varying degrees of risks and rewards. Fine art is known to have little intrinsic value beyond its cultural significance and aesthetically pleasing nature, yet it seems to be an increasingly attractive alternative to traditional investment assets. Art fund managers also have a fiduciary duty with regard to their investors, which is virtually non-existent in gallery-investor or auction house-investor relationships. ); “emerging artists” strategies, which center around the investment in artists that are not yet established and therefore have the potential for rapid price appreciation; “intrinsic value” strategies, which involve investing in works by artists perceived by the fund manager to be selling at deep discounts to their actual or potential value; “leveraging” strategies, which involve borrowing on the art held by the art fund and using such funds to acquire additional art expected to produce returns greater than the borrowing costs during the term of the loan; “distressed art” strategies, which focus on the acquisition of artworks at deep discounts from collectors facing bankruptcy or insolvency; “co-ownership” strategies, which involve the art fund acquiring works jointly with other third party investors to share the risk of a particular investment and provide for further diversification of the art fund’s investment portfolio; “showcasing” strategies, which seek to increase the value of the fund’s art portfolio by arranging for the placement of such works in important museum shows; “bulk buying” strategies, which involve buying large lots of art in order to attain better pricing and lower transaction costs; and “medium” strategies, which center on the investment in a single form of media of art (i.e. To this end, title insurance may be purchased to protect a fund against a murky provenance. Typically, art fund managers charge (i) an annual management fee of between 1% and 3% of either the net asset value of the fund’s art portfolio or the total capital commitments made by the fund’s investors and (ii) a performance fee equal to 20% of any profits made from the disposition of the fund’s art portfolio. Kyle Sommer, The Art of Investing in Art, Madeleine Giansanti Cag, Want To Invest In An Art CDO? Such a pairing is essential to avoid many of the pitfalls inherent to managing an art fund –namely either a lack of experience in the ins and outs of the art market or in managing an investment fund. The Center for Art Law is a nonprofit organization that conducts research and offers resources and programming for the advancement of a vibrant arts and law community. When an investor decides to invest, a subscription agreement detailing the number of shares, price, and other terms will be executed resulting in the investor becoming a shareholder in the fund. » Read More, Art Funds Give Back » Learn More, Champagne Reception Another product, this one emerging from the banking world, is a collateralized debt obligation (“CDO”) utilizing art loans as the underlying asset. In calculating the total number of investors in an art fund, there are certain “look-through” rules that must be considered. To qualify to invest, they must be considered “accredited investors” under SEC guidelines, meaning that they are financially sophisticated individuals or institutions that require less protection than their unsophisticated counterparts. The award of £100,000, is Britain's biggest single art prize, and the largest single museum arts prize in the world. The last few years has seen a significant increase in the number of art investment funds that have launched or are in the process of being launched. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! #ticker a { color: black; text-decoration: none; } Missouri based Liquid Rarity Exchange plans to bring one such product to market in the next few years, which will consist of publicly traded shares of securitized art and other tangible and intangible alternative assets. Is Now The Time? She served as the Spring 2015 Post Graduate Fellow with Center for Art law, and currently works in fund structuring at a large financial institution. @ The Armory Show photography) for which the art fund manager has particular expertise and deal flow. The Fine Art fund is understood to hold assets in excess of $100 million under management and is comprised of four unregulated funds, which are the Chinese Fine Art Fund, The Middle Eastern Fine Art Fund and the … This was easy, we just made amazing art super affordable! The issue of valuation presents another problem for art funds as the value of acquired works remains that of the purchase price, not accounting for any shifts, until there is a liquidity event, making it hard to value a fund at certain benchmarks. 5:30pm to 8pm The major strategies typically utilized by art investment funds include traditional “buy and hold” strategies; “geographic arbitrage”, which aim to exploit differences in price realization for certain artists’ works in different geographic locations; “artwork driven” strategies, which seek to profit from issues impacting a specific artwork’s offered price (such as issues relating to its condition, provenance, title, etc. Art funds are generally privately offered investment funds dedicated to the generation of returns through the acquisition and disposition of works of art. The BRPF was reportedly able to deliver an aggregate return of 11.3% per year compounded from 1974 to 1999. Such exemptions require art funds to comply with statutory and regulatory regimes that relate to private offerings, including, but not limited to, limiting their offerings to “accredited investors”, namely certain institutional investors and individuals with either a net worth of $1 million (excluding the value of their personal residence) or with income during the past two years of $200,000 (or $300,000 with spouse), with whom the art fund has a pre-existing relationship arising out of other than the art fund offering. Art in your inbox. Art Fund aims to improve the services we offer. It has also been disclosed that the first two funds produced annual returns of 16 percent for sold pieces, a figure based on the sale of about 100 artworks. To find out more, read our cookie policy or to manage your settings click here. Subscription to Art Fund's magazine with insightful and exclusive features. As a general rule, art fund managers typically have a substantial amount of their own capital invested in the art funds that they manage, thereby aligning their interests with those of their investors. Furthermore, as previously mentioned, unlike the financial markets, the art market is highly unregulated leading to less investor confidence in fair dealings, and more potential for price-fixing and manipulation. While all art funds utilize some form and degree of a traditional “buy and hold” strategy, art funds differ in their aggregate size, duration, investment focus, investment strategies and portfolio restrictions. @ St. Stephen of Hungary School The charity for art Additional Information For over 110 years we have supported museums and galleries, and helped them to buy and display great works of art for everyone to enjoy. Art funds provide a number of benefits to both the art market and investors. Silent Auction Fundraiser to Benefit the Childhood Cancer Society, Panel Discussion, "Art & Passion Funds: The New Frontier in Alternative Investments", Panel Discussion, "Art Funds? One mechanism utilized by some of these profit-seekers to gain exposure can be found in fund-structured vehicles sometimes referred to as “passion funds.” These art investment funds, or “passion funds,” provide the opportunity for investors to tap into the potential of artworks to diversify portfolios and potentially obtain significant returns. One such variation is Arthena, the first equity crowdfunding platform that allows investors to pool their capital in “collections” which are curated by expert art advisors. We believe arts and culture inspire, empower, and transform individuals and communities. In the meantime, those considering investing in an art fund are strongly advised to do their research and seek the advice of experts in the field. The art investment industry has also seen a recent trend of investors moving away from art funds and towards privately managed art investment accounts. What investment strategies do art funds utilize? While individuals have been acquiring art in art clubs or similar collectives for investment purposes for centuries, the British Rail Pension Fund (the “BRPF”) was the first to formally adopt the rubric of what we would today call an art investment fund. If individuals and businesses would like to support the Current Art Fund to extend its impact, tax-deductible donations may be made online or by mail to Tri-Star Arts Memo: Current Art Fund, P.O. Accordingly, many art funds seek to limit the amount of capital they will accept. Although the art market is subject to little oversight, actual art funds are subject to some financial industry regulation and must comply with initial and periodic disclosure requirements, and antifraud provisions, which provide some level of investor protection. Art Basel Miami Beach She may be reached at jessicamcurley@gmail.com. The CEO of Blackrock, Larry Fink, recently remarked that one of the “two greatest stores of wealth internationally today is contemporary art,…” adding that, all jokes aside, it is a “serious asset class.” Although many art world enthusiasts advise that people only purchase art if they truly admire it, recent record-high sales and huge upside potential are attracting the attention of those more focused on profit-making. Market or the global art market and investors investing in the art fund amplifies mission. Your space, read our cookie policy or to manage your settings click here the amount of capital they accept! To 1999 has been a challenge for art funds and towards privately managed art funds. Good investment this article is intended as general information, not legal advice with art... ), Daniel Grant, Dollars on the Wall exclusive features market for alternative opportunities rely on your support grow. 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