Blue Vault Bowman Alts Week 2020 Has Successful Launch
May 5, 2020 | James Sprow | Blue Vault
The first-ever “Virtual Alts Summit” sponsored by Blue Vault and Bowman Law kicked off on Monday and proved that perseverance and ingenuity, along with the technology available to do online meetings, could overcome the seemingly overwhelming challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, over 415 industry professionals registered to participate in Alts Week 2020, and the first day’s sessions provided many valuable perspectives on how the alternative investments industry is dealing with the crisis.
The first session presented a panel discussion entitled “What Do We Do Now – An Industry Perspective” moderated by Brian Rivera of CIM Group and included the views of Dale Brown (FSI), Sherri Cooke (AI Insight), Thayer Gallison (Advisor Group), and Ryan Strauser (Black Creek Group).
Josh Hoffman of Bluerock Real Estate moderated the next panel entitled “What Do We Do Now – An Asset Manager Perspective” which brought together John Carter (Carter Multifamily), Adam Larson, (Cottonwood), Brad Mitts (NexPoint) and George Razook (CIM Group).
Following the two panel discussions, Alternative Investment Exchange (AIX) presented a live demonstration of how their technology platform can provide an automated end-to-end process connecting all players in the alternative investment transactions environment. The presentation was titled “The Alts Investing Platform These Times Demand.”
Next came a presentation by WealthForge, “Empowering Remote Alts Business – An Introduction to Altigo.” WealthForge’s vision is to make alternative investments as easy to own as a mutual fund, with the ultimate goal of increasing the number of financial professionals who engage with alts and increasing the inclusion of alts within client portfolios, where suitable.
The first four sessions of the day were open to the general public, while program sponsor presentations that followed were made exclusively to an audience of broker dealers and RIAs.
ExchangeRight’s Joshua Ungerecht presented an overview of the firm’s strategy of putting together programs for 1031 exchanges and a REIT that focus on necessity-based retail and recession-resistant healthcare in net-leased, stand-alone properties, backed by investment-grade tenants. Following the financial crisis in the last decade, the three principals at ExchangeRight crafted an investment strategy that would weather the next recession, which has proven itself in the current crisis. The portfolio tenants are actually thriving and program returns have exceeded expectations.
Cottonwood Communities presented their strategy entitled “Enduring Locations and Asset Quality: The Importance of Submarkets, Especially During Economic Downturns.” The nontraded REIT sponsor uses an approach in the multifamily asset class that focuses on locations and Class A assets that appeal to tenants in growing job markets with low unemployment and higher average incomes. Cottonwood also has aligned the sponsor’s incentives with investors by paying all front loads and structuring rewards that are contingent upon performance.
Black Creek Group ended the day’s presentations with a discussion of their continuously offered nontraded REIT Black Creek Diversified Property Fund and the Black Creek Exchange program that provides tax-deferral advantages on 1031 real property exchanges. They discussed how they’ve been able to scale multiple commercial real estate investment solutions and their trusted and experienced track record.
Day 2 of the Blue Vault Bowman Alts Summit 2020 will begin at 11:00 AM (EDT) with a panel discussion entitled “Alts Electronic Business: A Discussion about Today’s Challenges” followed by technology solutions providers Centersky and iCapital Network. A second panel at 1:05 PM (EDT) will present a discussion of “Alts Electronic Business: A Discussion about Today’s Solutions.”
Envision Financial Systems and Docupace will present their solutions beginning at 1:55 PM (EDT), followed by sessions for broker dealers and RIAs only by Triton Pacific and NexPoint.
Triton Pacific will discuss how Tasty Brands is performing in today’s COVID-19 environment. Tasty Brands provides tax-advantaged private equity investments in quick service restaurants, qualifying as essential businesses during the pandemic.
NexPoint manages a suite of alternative real estate products, including multifamily DST 1031 Exchanges, a premier life science real estate co-invest private offering, and their $1 billion workforce single family rental (SFR) private offering, VineBrook Homes Trust.
We look forward to a successful Day 2 of the Blue Vault Bowman Alts Week 2020 virtual Summit!
