Howard Fischer

Great to see RSF Social Finance's flagship loan fund, the Social Investment Fund, in today's ImpactAlpha The List: Impact fund managers steer private credit to places equity fears to tread. #changemakers #socialinvestmentfund #regenerativefinance #impactinvesting #wealthmanagement

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It was great to be back in Boston last week, reconnecting with returning Institute members and meeting new market and investment leaders! We are excited for the events and research areas we have coming up in the next few months! #ocio #investmentsolutions #investmentmanagement #investmentconsulting

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The May inflation data showed some promising signs. The overall CPI remained unchanged, and the core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, saw its smallest increase since August 2021 at just 0.16%. Year-over-year, the headline CPI is up 3.3%, with the core CPI up 3.4%. As economic growth slows, we expect inflation to keep moderating. Our latest forecast predicts a rebound in real GDP growth to 2.7% annualized in Q2. However, consumer spending is softer than expected, and the housing market is facing challenges with higher mortgage rates. This slowdown in home sales is impacting spending on furniture, appliances, and home furnishings, creating additional hurdles for retailers. Business fixed investment is likely to ease this summer due to election-related uncertainty. Despite slower growth, Fed Chair Jay Powell reassures us that stagflation isn't a threat. We foresee inflation gradually decelerating, staying above the Fed's target until 2026. This scenario allows for some interest rate cuts, but not extensive ones, barring a recession. We anticipate two Fed rate cuts this year, in September and December, with two more quarter-point cuts in 2025. The combination of full employment, near-potential real GDP growth, large federal budget deficits and inflation running above the Fed's 2% target will keep long-term interest rates above 4%. There’s potential upside for the 10-Year Note, especially if the economy picks up post-election. The FOMC will gradually increase its long-run federal funds rate estimate from 2.60% to 3.25%, which would push the 10-Year to 4.80% with a typical yield curve. #EconomicOutlook #Inflation #FederalReserve #GDP #InterestRates #MarketTrends #HousingMarket #ConsumerSpending #BusinessInvestment https://lnkd.in/ePaKAExc

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Cambridge Wilkinson Investment Bank Closes $90MM Credit Facility for Infrastructure Development Company Cambridge Wilkinson is pleased to announce the close of a $90 Million credit facility for a fast-growing North American infrastructure development company. This facility will support the company’s strategic expansion plans and will increase their capacity to acquire and develop prime assets.   “Private credit investors are actively seeking opportunities to align objectives with companies that have both the track record, the capacity to deliver, and the pipeline to address our national need for robust and ongoing community infrastructure development. Clients, such as this one, are expanding rapidly and need speed, agility, and access to the best strategic investors – this is where our network is well-positioned to help them meet those needs. We believe that the spectrum of infrastructure development and associated financing is growing, has desirable return profiles, and will continue to attract investors for some time,” said Rob Bolandian, Co-Founder and Global Head of Investment Banking at Cambridge Wilkinson. www.cambridgewilkinson.com Capitalize on Our Connections #team #capitalraise #capitalmarkets #credit #privatecredit #cre #realestate #infrastructure #privateequity #finance #dealmaking #investmentbanking #banking

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First, thank you for the incredibly kind birthday wishes! But if you do anything for me today, please join us in the next hour for a webinar you won’t want to miss.     Join CNote CEO, Catherine Berman, and TriLinc Global, LLC CEO,  Gloria Nelund, for a compelling and educational webinar TODAY, May 9th at 10 a.m. PT / 1pm ET. Please register below for the “Leading the Charge in Sustainable Finance”  45-minute webinar.    These two incredible female entrepreneurs have been at the forefront of sustainable finance and delivering impact. Today they are carving new channels and opportunities in this space and will share their firsthand experience and knowledge.     Expect them to cover: 🎯 What is sustainable cash management and how you can make measurable social and environmental impact 🎯 Current trends in sustainable Private Credit among both institutional and retail investors 🎯 Trends, challenges, and potential solutions for the future of sustainable investing 🎯 Educational examples of how sustainable investing impacts communities and people Register here for attendance/recording --> https://lnkd.in/e6yShxe2 #SustainableFinance #ImpactInvesting #ESG #FemaleFounders #Sustainability #DEI

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3 Comments

I would like to discuss the March 22 Nikkei article, "One Year to Go Until the Expiration of TSE Transitional Measures: 9% of Companies Fail to Meet Listing Standards, Many Have Liquidity Challenges."

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One of the most common struggles for aspiring fund managers -- current cash flow. Many fund managers are struggling in the short term to produce cash flow for their business. In a typical structure, fund managers (specifically referring to folks who leverage SPVs to invest into specific deals or funds) -- may earn 1-2% upfront as an acquisition fee and earn the rest of their compensation in a profit sharing split once the preferred return to investors is achieved. Most real estate projects today are either not achieving their preferred return in cash flow or may not achieve this bench mark for the first three, four or even five years -- at this point, there may also be accrued preferred return that would have to be caught up. As a fund manager, what other asset classes are you evaluating to help increase cash flow for both your investors AND yourself? Personally, we are diving deep into buying and operating businesses that potential to conservatively achieve 20%+ cash on cash returns.

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"Art for art's sake" is a noble sentiment, but as investors, we seek both cultural and financial appreciation. The challenge lies in balancing support for emerging artists with the potential for long-term investment returns. I recently had the privilege of speaking with Tracey Donner Finch, a passionate art collector with a remarkable story. Tracey owns an astounding collection of 150 Jean-Michel Basquiat studies and sketches, and her journey to authenticate these pieces is nothing short of extraordinary. Featured on "CBS This Morning (https://lnkd.in/eJZKFkXj), " Tracey has gone to great lengths to establish the provenance of her collection. She enlisted experts, including the former Head of the U.S. Secret Service, and conducted extensive forensic analysis. Despite facing skepticism, Tracey remains undeterred in her quest for authentication. Her determination is understandable. Basquiat's "Mind Blowing" sold for a staggering $110.5 million at auction, highlighting the potential value of authenticated works. With online art sales reaching record highs in 2023, the art market continues to evolve and expand. At XChange Place, we're dedicated to showcasing unique alternative assets and providing investment opportunities in the exciting fine art space. We aim to connect our community with fascinating figures from the art world, like Mrs. Finch, through our content and podcast series. More importantly, prospective investors can browse offerings on our website and can seamlessly complete their entire investment transaction in just a few clicks. Stay tuned for more insights into the intersection of art and investment, and perhaps even the opportunity to invest in works by renowned artists like Basquiat through our platform. #ArtInvestment #Art #Artwork #Artist #FineArt #Investing #Investor #Alternatives #AlternativeInvesting #AlternativeInvestments #Finance #Fintech,

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Interesting article from Douglas Appell in Pensions & Investments about the post-ZIRP, “higher for longer” interest rate environment that boils down to advocating for the pursuit of satisfactory investment outcomes that are relevant to asset owners’ actual spending needs and goals, rather than continuing the historically common practice – and expected future folly – of tethering one’s equity beta to that of an equity benchmark whose performance from today’s elevated levels is widely expected to be sluggish and insufficient to fund minimum liabilities (ie: payout rates, actuarial hurdles, spending goals, etc.).   Quoting the inimitable Ben Phillips, “In that world, the relevant benchmark becomes the client’s required cash flows.”   Fresh perspectives and new ideas are warranted. Satisfactory outcomes not benchmarks.

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Executive Pay is seeing changes due to the "anti-woke" backlash against ESG. The following Bloomberg article cites data analysis by Farient Advisors LLC. Bloomberg spoke with our ESG Leader Brian Bueno to get his take on what might really be happening. Brian says, "Companies and boards are especially trying to be careful when they're setting these goals. It's possible we could see movement away from diversity or movement towards broader measures of human capital or workforce-related measures." https://lnkd.in/gbFsgUzM #execcomp #corpgov #ESG

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In MFS’ view, sustainability considerations are jigsaw pieces of the fundamental research puzzle and need to be integrated when material. Learn about our approach, 2023 engagement activities and more in our latest Annual Report. bit.ly/3UWXH2a.

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Our Corporate team have identified USD800bn of debt sitting on cusps of the ‘A’ and ‘BBB’ categories. At the ‘A’ level, USD550m belonging to Chinese issuers with IDRs linked to the sovereign, but the cusp list also includes Intel and PECO Energy Company in the U.S. The split of debt on the cusp of the ‘BBB’/‘BB’ categories is more balanced, although leans slightly more towards downgrades, with 26 potential fallen angels (USD180bn aggregated debt), compared to 17 potential rising stars (USD120bn aggregated debt). Boeing’s debt accounts for about one-third of the total debt of all potential fallen angels, following its Outlook revision to Negative. The free-to-air summary from colleagues Emmanuel Bulle and Tatiana Kordyukova, highlighting individual issuers, is at https://lnkd.in/eKVn56-r; the full report for subscribers is at https://lnkd.in/ewP7G2nT. #fitchoncredit #investmentgrade #creditratings

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As the DOW Jones closed above 40,000 for the first time in its history, Olaolu Aganga recently joined the team on CNBC’s Closing Bell to discuss our playbook in alternatives and current strategic and tactical asset allocation views. Through what many have described as a “supercycle” election year, we see large asset owners seeking out stability in longer-term allocations to alternatives – including private credit and private equity. Typically marked to market at a slower rate, exposure to alternatives can provide important stability through more volatile periods. Balancing strategic and tactical decision making across portfolios is all about assessing risk and return relative to time horizon. Strategically, we’ve been neutral on Europe for some time, but tactically, we’ve been looking internationally to capture opportunities across emerging markets, most recently in China where we see valuation distortion. Join the Mercer Investments team and Olaolu Aganga LIVE in Nashville for the Global Investment Forum June 10-12: bit.ly/3Vm71yw

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There are two ways to answer this question. I will give you the one I prefer, away from the tinkering with band-aids towards curing our economic disease.

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Enjoyed the conversation with William Robins of Citywire Selector discussing fund selection across public and private markets within Elkstone. Dispersion, persistency, time horizon and sourcing were the primary topics. "I might be the best fund selector in the world but if my buy list only has bottom quartile funds, I won’t meet my investment goal. Building a sourcing machine is paramount when considering the former and the dispersion of managers." Read the full piece here: https://lnkd.in/eakpJiu3

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It was great to spend some time chatting with Rory Palmer, Debra Slabber, CFA and Glen Mukheibir CFP® on the current challenges faced by asset allocators. Thanks to Asset TV for giving us an opportunity to talk about our approach to managing global equity strategies. We discussed the dynamic investment process we have developed in the Systematic Equities team here at Jupiter Asset Management, and how that could be a useful core equities building block for asset allocators in navigating these uncertain times. #JupiterSystematic #GlobalEquities #OldMutual #OldMutualWealth #OMIG

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