Are Performance Fees Fair for Syndicate Investors?
The Argument Against Performance Fees If fund managers and syndicate managers do not outperform their benchmark, they continue to get their standard fee, even if they have to forego their performance fee. We like performance, but we do not like performance fees. There are fund managers, who charge a fee for management, but then on top of that, they charge another fee if they get returns above a certain level. We object to these “performance fees”. Some fund managers will say they should have a performance…
Agricultural Syndicates, Partnerships, all need to have a shareholders agreement at the start of a new business.
If you’re starting or running a business or buying a property with other co-founders, someone probably told you to get a shareholders agreement. But why is this important? What does a shareholders agreement do? What can happen if you don’t get one? In this article, I’ll explain why you need to have some hard conversations with co-founders and we’ll look at an interesting recent case with costly consequences. What is a shareholders agreement? A shareholders agreement is a contract where you agree…
Eucalyptus Plantation Forestry Investment in Uruguay shows impressive returns
Uruguay has significant geographic, climate and competitive environmental advantages in modern Eucalyptus timberland plantation forestry, making it one the world’s lowest base cost Eucalyptus producers. The Uruguay forestry model driven by the state-of-the-art world, class pulp plant investments in Uruguay by UPM and Stora Enso/ Auraco has created a vigorous, sustainable and ultimately disruptive forestry model which is changing the dynamics of traditional timber markets on a worldwide basis on a scale last…
Understanding International Family Offices as an alternative source of investment capital
The role of the family office has often been misunderstood, even though the concept has been around (in various forms) for hundreds of years. Still, today, as this industry controls billions of dollars in assets under management, many intelligent, experienced finance professionals cannot offer a complete definition of what a family office is exactly. Today, the family office industry is expanding at an impressive pace, with new family offices opening every month and assets continuing to grow yearly. The family…
Davos 2023 backs an Argentine firm that optimises irrigation efficiency with new technology
Kilimo, an Argentine company that uses data to optimise irrigation, received solid financial support at this year’s Davos forum to continue developing a system that helps farmers in Latin America save thousands of litres of water. Kilimo, an Argentine company that uses data to optimise irrigation, received strong financial support at this year’s Davos forum to continue developing a system that helps farmers in Latin America save thousands of litres of water. The company, which advises farmers in…
So you want to buy farm land in South America – What are the options ?
So you want to be a landowner in South America Investing in farmland can make for an intriguing alternative to the stock market. Farmland is safe historically, an excellent hedge against inflation and is an asset class that does not correlate with the normal stock market. As the world’s population continues to grow (9.15 billion estimates by 2050) and the global middle class continues to emerge (with changing dietary habits toward more calories and meat), farmland is poised to become an even more intriguing…
11 property tips when buying
My thoughts from 30 yrs in the real estate industry. Tip 1: Contact your broker, don’t wait for them to contact you – Good properties always sell, even in a challenging market. Your ability to buy the best properties that tick all your boxes comes down to your relationships with the local brokers, so take the lead and make sure they always think of you first when they become aware of that perfect property. Ask to be on their mailing list if you are not already. Tip 2: Buy when you can afford to…
We are searching for a creative and experienced Real Estate Journalist focused on South America to join our team
Qualifications: We are looking for a bilingual (Spanish/ English) freelance journalist, preferably from South America, who can write positive articles on a diverse range of subjects connected to investment in targeted real estate projects or subjects related to real estate investment in South America for our real estate news site, gtsanews.com. We will give you the subject and the project or subject we want to highlight. ie we might be selling a horticultural farm in Chile. We might need an article about that…
Selling or buying properties in remote locations
Sellers face many of the same challenges as buyers do. Still, given current market conditions in many South American markets where we operate, we are finding the market is slow for remote properties. They are often owned as second or third investments outside their home location and are only visited once or twice a year. Each Seller’s motivation clearly varies. However, there is a broad spectrum of Sellers, from those content with fair market value and others who really don’t care what fair market value…
The Problem: Property Not Selling? Maybe we can help
There are several reasons why otherwise prime real estate gets no interest from qualified buyers. Is it priced for the market conditions? ( market values keep changing up and down ) Is it easily accessible to be viewed? Is it being advertised in the logical target markets? Does the quality of marketing represent the quality of the property? ie is it repressed by high-quality media that has been edited professionally? Here is an example from Cafayate, Argentina. Is the real estate salesperson experienced in…
A New Real Estate Marketing option for Independent Brokers and Vendors
We offer an option for independent brokers and private Vendors to market their Residential real estate or Agricultural related businesses for sale outside their home location. For nearly 20 years, GTSA – Marketing has been marketing individual properties or projects for vendors and independent brokers without being involved in the sales process. This is in response to the effects of disruptive technologies available to sellers. We did this where we had no licensed sales support in the area or region and/or…
Technology and its disruptive impact on the real estate industry
What is the transformative impact of technology for real estate brokers? “Real estate agents will not be replaced by technology …. they will be replaced by agents with technology.” – Peter Williams – CEO of Deloitte Digital The principle here is that the real estate industry is not in imminent danger of being replaced by a single technology solution that completely disintermediates the process and makes the agent’s role obsolete, but rather that the transformations in the industry…
The disruption Facebook is having on traditional real estate advertising
The real estate industry has always had a love-hate relationship with the portals such as zonaprop, argenprop , gatewaytosouthamerica.com etc. While the portals own the best audience for property buyers – and are therefore an important part of any vendor’s marketing spend – the charging models and sense of dependence have always irked independent agents. No one likes being obliged to pay for a service you feel you have little control over. But the portals and the technology that drives them are now…
Real estate uses will dramatically change in the next decade if not sooner.
The future of real estate will be influenced by disruption technology as people change how they shop, travel and even grow their food, a world-renowned professor of real estate says. At an international property conference, San Diego University professor Norm Miller said the technological innovations coming, from self-driving vehicles to AI and robots, alongside demographic trends, will cause dramatic changes in real estate, and it’s not a matter of if but when. “Ten trends will change real estate as we…
Direct Farmland Investments in South America as an Inflation Hedge
Farmland is seen as an attractive long-term investment that offers current income, capital appreciation, an inflation hedge and favourable diversification that is negatively correlated with traditional asset classes. Most investors have experienced wrenching declines in the value of their portfolios from time to time. Still, those with an agricultural allocation benefited from less volatility and positive returns to offset losses from the other asset classes. Current Income Crop farmland has consistently produced…
