Starwood REIT Misleads, Like BREIT only Worse!
(Apr 2024)
By Craig McCann and
Regina Meng
You can download a pdf of this article to print or email here.
In late 2022 we analyzed BREIT and concluded that BREIT had been systematically inflating its NAV, smoothing its returns and misleading investors. The intervening 18 months have confirmed our opinions.
We focused on BREIT because it was a juggernaut and a poster child for the nontraded REIT industry trying to rebuild after its prior "lifecycle" flimflam was no longer tenable in the face of...
Another Example of Apparent Marking-the-Close
(Mar 2024)
By Craig McCann and
Mike Yan
You can download a PDF of this article to print or email here
Introduction
We recently posted research into stock issuances solely underwritten by Aegis Capital. We concluded that investors, including many Aegis' retail customers, suffered $3.0 billion to $5 billion in losses in
recent years as a result of Aegis' conduct. You can view that post here.
We also concluded that in at least three instances either Aegis marked the close or looked the...
2024 Brokerage Firm Risk Rankings
(Feb 2024)
By Craig McCann, Chuan Qin and Mike Yan
We previously published two papers ranking brokerage firms based on the complaint history associated with their current brokers and the complaints associated with brokers who they employed
at the time of the conduct being complained about, wherever those brokers are currently employed.
We recently updated our analysis of complaints against brokerage firms and found that our earlier results were extremely useful for identifying brokerage firms likely...
Blackstone Fiddles as BREIT Burns
(Apr 2023)
By Craig McCann and Regina Meng.
You can download a pdf of this article to print or email here.
Introduction
In December, we argued that Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust ("BREIT") smoothed and inflated its reported returns for years, leading to large investor inflows. [1] We predicted that a run on the bank had started because of Blackstone's prior conduct, leaving it with two very bad options. BREIT could honor redemption requests at posted NAVs and see its NAV cut in half as the NAV...
YES Strategies: Know to say no
(May 2019)
In recent years, low yields in the bond market and low volatility in the equity markets have combined to give brokerage firms the excuse to develop and sell "Yield Enhancement Strategies (YES)" to retail investors. These strategies almost always consist of selling options on the S&P 500. The sale of an option garners a premium but places the seller (the retail investor) in a short option position. Being short on a call or put option is a risky place to be. In the best-case scenario, the...
UBS and Santander's Role in Underwriting Employee Retirement System Bonds
(May 2017)
We've written extensively about the UBS Puerto Rico Closed End Funds. These funds were concentrated in the riskiest subset of Puerto Rico municipal bonds - uninsured bonds with little or no market outside of the proprietary UBS funds. Our prior posts on Puerto Rico can be found on our website.
In this post we revisit the Employee Retirement System's 2008 ERS Series B offering to highlight Santander's role in this ill-fated deal. The Series B bonds were the second of three ERS offerings. The...
Puerto Rico Municipal Bond Returns and Sunspots
(Apr 2017)
Introduction
Economists use a statistical procedure called regression analysis to determine whether there is a relationship between economic variables. For example, a labor economist might use regression analysis to determine whether there is a relationship between salaries and education after controlling for differences in job tenure and geographic region. An antitrust economist might use regression analysis to determine whether an attempted collusion in the airline industry effected prices...
Santander's First Puerto Rico Family of Funds: Same Defects, Similar Losses as UBS Puerto Rico and Popular Funds
(Mar 2017)
Introduction
We have previously posted our extensive research into UBS Financial Services of Puerto Rico's closed end funds - some of which were co-managed and sold by Popular.
A summary of our UBS posts as of February 12, 2015 can be downloaded by clicking UBS Puerto Rico's Bond Fund Debacle: What We Know so Far. That summary is also available in Spanish by clicking Lo que Sabemos hasta Ahora de la Debacle de los Fondos de Bonos UBS Puerto Rico.
Two subsequent UBS posts can be accessed by...
Are Employee Retirement Checks in Puerto Rico About to Stop?
(Jan 2017)
Yesterday a Joint Stipulation and Order was entered into between investors in Employee Retirement System (ERS) bonds issued in 2008 and the Governor, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Director of the Commonwealth's OMB and the ERS. The Joint Stipulation and Order and the Order Approving Stipulation, Setting Aside Hearing and Dismissing Case are available on our website.
We have written extensively about the ERS bonds. You can find more information in our blog posts on the conflicted ERS bond...
UBS Puerto Rico's COFINA Conflicts Were Even Worse Than ERS Conflicts
(Oct 2016)
We have written extensively about the wreckage caused by UBS's business model in Puerto Rico. See "UBS Puerto Rico's Bond Fund Debacle: What We Know so Far" and "Lo que Sabemos hasta Ahora de la Debacle de los Fondos de Bonos UBS Puerto Rico". All our Puerto Rico posts are available in English and in Spanish.
UBS's Farm-to-Table business model included encouraging the Employee Retirement System ("ERS") and other entities in Puerto Rico to issue bonds when no viable market except for UBS's...
