DALLAS, Aug. 05, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Beneficient Company Group, L.P. (Ben), a leading company serving the growing market of investors seeking liquidity from alternative assets, today announced the launch of a first-of-its-kind platform and suite of private trust solutions that seeks to offer simple, rapid, and cost-effective liquidity solutions for owners of alternative assets. With Ben, high-net-worth (HNW) individuals and small-to-mid-sized institutions—who are often locked into alternative assets for 10-12 years or more—may now be able to overcome many of the traditional barriers to liquidity that existed within the asset class in order to redeploy their capital on their own terms.
Investors in these assets have relied primarily on secondary funds for their liquidity needs. These non-permanent funds cater to large institutions and employ M&A-like transactions involving multiple intermediaries, complicated agreements, time-consuming negotiations requiring many months (and often more than a year), and expensive fees. Operating as a permanent financial services company, Ben seeks to empower these alternative asset owners with a complete offering of standardized trust solutions solely focused on their liquidity needs.
“Liquidity has always been a critical issue in the markets, particularly in alternative assets. The current environment has only accelerated the need investors have for partners who can help them access and redeploy their capital as needed. That is where Ben comes in,” said Brad Heppner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ben. “The public launch of our proprietary liquidity platform will create a new liquidity market for individuals and small institutions that provides an unmatched level of choice and flexibility for when and how they monetize all kinds of alternative investments, from private equity to real estate. Our entire team has been focused on establishing Ben as a new and welcome departure from the industry’s historically complicated practice of providing liquidity to these investors.”
Ben seeks to provide liquidity for most types of professionally managed alternative asset investments, including: private equity, venture capital, feeder funds, fund of funds, leveraged buyouts, private debt, real estate, non-traded BDCs, and REITs, among others. Ben acts as a principal in all transactions and uses its own balance sheet—as well as the publicly traded stock and SEC-registered bonds of GWG Holdings (Nasdaq: GWGH)—in its effort to provide liquidity to investors. Varying with availability of prior underwriting information, transactions are designed to close in as short as 30 days—a much shorter period than the current industry standard for closing transactions—without the complexity involved with securing liquidity from secondary funds.
U.S.-based HNW individuals and small-to-mid-sized institutions currently hold $1.2 trillion in alternative investments. Ownership of alternative assets in the U.S. has increased significantly in recent years and is likely to continue growing. In June, the U.S. Department of Labor provided guidance to help facilitate employer-sponsored retirement accounts such as 401(k)s (which represent approximately $9 trillion in assets) access funds with a private equity component. Ben believes increased access among individual investors to alternative investment vehicles will lead to greater demand for simple, rapid, and cost-effective liquidity solutions for these investments.
“Ben’s structure as a permanent financial institution with a well-capitalized balance sheet is arguably our most critical differentiator from other liquidity providers in the alternatives market,” said James Silk, Director, Executive Vice President, and Chief Legal Officer of Ben. “We have been working for years to develop our customizable liquidity solutions for investors across the alternatives market, and believe they will help modernize the industry and put alternatives on par with other assets when it comes to when and how investors are able to exit their investments.”
Ben’s first trust solution, the Ben ExchangeTrust™, is designed to offer liquidity through equity or debt securities via a tax-free or taxable exchange. Today, with the Ben ExchangeTrust™, investors can seek liquidity through an exchange of their illiquid alternative assets in a tax-efficient manner for a cash income-producing bond: The Liquidity Bond. The Liquidity Bond consists of the secured debt of GWGH, with a fixed maturity of four years and an option to exchange the bond for GWGH common stock after six months. The Liquidity Bond is issued by GWG Life, LLC, a subsidiary of GWGH, and may pay an interest rate of up to 6% per annum in cash monthly. Through the Ben ExchangeTrust™, Ben seeks to provide investors with a Liquidity Bond at or near 100% of their fund’s net asset value.
“The movement of capital between markets and economic cycles is essential for investor success, especially so in times of economic uncertainty. Ben plays a critical role in providing liquidity and facilitating the flow of investor capital by serving individual investors and small-to-mid-sized institutions that own alternative investments,” said Richard Fisher, former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and Senior Partner Director of Ben.
Ben’s platform offers a range of other trust solutions, including the Ben LiquidTrust® and Ben InterchangeTrust™, that may be customized to suit investors’ individual circumstances and tax-planning needs. Investors and financial advisors looking for more information on Ben and its trust solutions can visit www.trustben.com.
About The Beneficient Company Group, L.P.
The Beneficient Company Group, L.P. (Ben) provides a unique suite of financial solutions that offer simple, rapid, and cost-effective liquidity solutions for owners of alternative assets. These liquidity solutions are available for most types of professionally managed alternative asset investments and can be customized to suit individual circumstances. Serving as a principal by using its own balance sheet, Ben operates as a permanent financial institution that helps to remove many of the traditional barriers to liquidity faced by high-net-worth individuals and small-to-mid-sized institutions. In 2019, Ben completed a series of transactions with GWG Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: GWGH) to expand the company’s distribution platform and continue its evolution into a full-scale provider of trust and liquidity solutions and services to owners of a broad range of alternative assets. For more information, visit www.trustben.com.
Media Contact
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Additional Considerations
Ben does not offer legal, tax, estate, or investment advisory services. Subject to Qualification. To understand the terms of the securities fully, you should carefully read the entire confidential private placement memorandum before making a decision to acquire Liquidity Bonds.
These materials do not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities of GWGH or any of its affiliates. Any offer or sale of securities shall be made solely to accredited investors and solely pursuant to a definitive confidential private placement memorandum and related documents, including definitive subscription materials. Neither Ben nor GWGH, nor any of their affiliates or representatives, (i) make any express or implied representation or warranty as to the completeness or accuracy of the information contained in these materials, or (ii) shall have any liability resulting from your use of these materials.
These materials contain certain estimates, projections and forward-looking statements that contain substantial risks and uncertainties. Please see private placement memorandum for a list of additional risks. The estimates, projections, and forward-looking statements contained herein may or may not be realized, accurate, or complete, and differences between estimated results and those realized may be material. Such estimates, projections, and forward-looking statements are illustrative only and reflect various assumptions of Ben’s management concerning the future performance of Ben and its affiliates, including GWGH, and are subject to significant business, economic, and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond their control.
Any securities offered through the Ben ExchangeTrust™ will be offered on a best-efforts basis on behalf of GWGH by Emerson Equity, L.L.C. Member FINRA, SIPC and Managing Broker-Dealer for the issue. GWG Life, LLC, The Beneficient Company Group, L.P., and Emerson Equity, L.L.C. are not affiliated entities.