Member Info for gilesfitzh

It's not Twitter, I don't actually own a mobile phone ;p

Nothing in this life is an absolute certainty but I'm getting a very similar story from several sources.

I bought 300k more shares at 10.04 this am :)

I'm getting indications that the game is on. Sell your shares now and weep in the coming days.

Andy, MMs are doing SFA. The churn is simply too small. 930k shares bought and 975ksold, that's about £15.8k each way. Hardly worth bothering with for the MMs who, I am sure, have much more interesting stocks to work with.

No. My holding in ALGW is at my self imposed %age limit of my total portfolio and my wife won't let me :p Her idea of a risky investment are the Premium Bonds she insists we keep :)

These are all platforms that people use to pass on information, express their hopes and desires and, unfortunately, some use them to try and move the share price so they can make a quick buck. The order in which I listed them in the title was deliberate.
They can be useful, like the internet itself, but you need to be aware of the dangers and pitfalls and you need to ‘be careful out there’.
You have all heard and seen the sayings: ‘the stock market is designed to transfer money from the active to the patient’, ‘Do Your Own Research’ and ‘Opportunities come infrequently, when it rains gold put out the bucket not the thimble’.
These can come over as trite but they are nevertheless true.
You shouldn’t believe ANYTHING that you read here or elsewhere until you have checked it for yourself.
Another thing you can be sure of is that if you see a negative post it’s been made with a purpose. An actual investor won’t do that as it will harm his own position and, if he has decided that his investment was a mistake, he’ll just sell up and move on. The only reason for a negative post is because the poster is ‘short’ and wants you to sell so he can buy back in more cheaply.

Someone seems to be bed and ISAing, 2 lots of buy and sells around the £5k mark. expensive way of doing it though.

Looking at the trades over the last few days Mark Ward must have put through 4 or 5 buy orders as there haven't been any 1.5 mn buys. It's one thing to make one drunk decision but 4 or 5 over the course of several days, not likely :)

Turns out it needed 6 posts :) Read from the bottom up (16.59 first) as that's the order they were posted.

Austin King:
I've been involved in investment marketing for almost a decade and this asset class has characteristics in a class of its own which I think will interest investors, maybe first on a curiosity level, but as they dig deeper there's an education component because as everyone on this call knows, the market still has some growing to do. But, especially right now, with all the volatility in the market, the asset class really shines so we're looking forward to grow and outpace other investment classes. As investors become more sophisticated they're moving off brokerages and heading towards advisors, which in practice means they're going away from commissions and embracing the fee structure. As you know that's been a big, big theme over the last five years, Congress and all the rest have made attempts to regulate it because of the perceived conflict of interest. For that reason there is a greater availability of policies and we're expecting that to grow in the coming years. The last one I'll really touch on is that it's a great hedge on traditional markets, there are a lot of ways to use it in the investor's portfolio. The actual gains are very attractive and usually fall in the mid teens. So the overall market and outlook is very exciting and it's exciting for me to get in at the growing phase because you have a real opportunity to make an outsized impact in the industry. So we're very excited for the rest of this year in the following years.
Justin Waite:
Excellent stuff guys. Good to chat to you and hopefully we catch you up in the not too distant future. Thank you very much.

We were expecting quite a few allocations early in the year however, with respect to this COVID issue, we've kind of put the brakes on things as it were. But a lot of investors really appreciate the non-correlated aspect of the asset and the way we've structured it also gives our investors tax favourable treatment. So the space is growing rapidly, as Danny mentioned, you have people understanding they can trade their assets, which is the policy and that just creates a larger market share. The US has an incredible amount of life insurance. I anticipate that this asset class will grow in the coming years and, as more people sell their policies that would lead to the potential for the investment side to expand as well. The end of April is when, apparently, we’re going to be able to have meetings and travel again.
Justin Waite:
I understand, so what are the aspirational goals now through the next two quarters, given the current environment?
Gobind Sahney:
Right, I think everybody knows what the situation is globally. We expect to produce revenues this calendar year, and how we expect to do this is pretty simple. We're going to concentrate on the work at hand, we have plenty to do, this includes getting the credit facility in place, marketing the fund and completing some of these discussions on separate managed accounts that we're having. This doesn't preclude all the unsolicited inquiries that we're still getting. We're trying to capitalise on everything that is coming our way but, at the same time, keep our operations in a efficient, lean manner and build value for the shareholders, which include ourselves.
Justin Waite:
Excellent stuff. OK, guys, well normally what I do, at the end of interviews, is ask for three quick reasons why someone should add you to their watch list. Because there are three of you we’ll ask each of you for one prospect for the future, please.
Gobind Sahney:
I'll speak for myself and then obviously Danny and Austin will follow. I truly believe I would not have started this journey if I did not believe that longevity assets managed by a transparent and high visibility manager, like ourselves, will eventually lead the best of breed advisory in this asset class. We are working hard to do this. I also want to just say thank-you to our dedicated shareholders. I hear from many that give us good constructive feedback. We're taking and building upon that as well. As you know, this is a project that we're in for the long term. This is, in our view, a marathon not a sprint. Danny, do you want to you want to take the next one?
Danny Swick:
Sure, as Gobind said, we're in a unique asset class, and we're experienced in this asset class and we are planning on taking this to the next level. Austin.

Gobind Sahney:
I'll take that Justin. Let me start with the most recent, the short term credit facility that we announced We were all set for getting this in place in Q1 but, as you know, we're faced with an unprecedented event that has an impact on the workforce and a knock on effect on the financial community. What this COVID-19 situation has done has been twofold. On the one hand the volatility that it's created in the financial markets has drawn attention to our non-correlated asset class, but in terms of the logistics of people now working from home and the separation and non ability to meet people has just slowed the process down considerably. The large Financial Group in the UK that we're working with was one of the first to get their workforce to work from home. We had documentation that was already started, that was well in progress, and we just need to complete it. I'm hopeful that once our politicians let us get back to work we’ll be able to move things forward. And then, what I would say is Stand Back. I think we're basically holding the reins here to something that is going to take off pretty well. We got the Black Oak Fund launched, we have the initial allocation as brought in, we had Q4 of last year to get all the operational pieces in place and our track record verified by KPMG and got everything in place by January 1st. Austin hit the ground running and indications were really great. I'm going to let Austin speak about this in a second. A lot of people were rebalancing their portfolios, their equity portfolios, because the markets were very toppy and they wanted to move into this. So we were expecting a number of great allocations Q1. But they've been now pushed back, not cancelled, just pushed back. Nevertheless, we continue to grow and take calls. Austin, jump in.
Austin King:
Thanks, Gobind. Thanks for the brief intro. We are marketing the fund in the US pretty much from coast to coast. In the launch phase there's a lot of important steps that need to be taken and at the right time, so we're taking the funds thesis and design and matching it up with interested investors, which primarily are the family office institutional, high net worth, mass affluent space. We’ve created all the marketing materials, we have everything all ready to go. Out there in the market we’re identifying anchor investors, and establishing a presence on custodial platforms. As you can appreciate, it's quite a process, but we've made really good progress.

Gobind Sahney:
Well the aspirations are still basically the same, but the changes come in the approach to getting them accomplished. The simple answer is that we take Institutional Investor requirements and adapt them to market conditions. Now, for instance, the fees generated in a disposal and acquisition mandates turned out to be minimal and we determined that it was not really worth the time. So, as a cost benefit analysis, our first advisory mandate was merged into the fund. They liked the idea of the Fund and waited for that and merged into that. Effectively the Black Oak Alpha Growth Fund is no longer an advisory mandate and instead the short term credit facility that we announced is a type of advisory mandate. This came about over the days, weeks and months. After communication with our prospective clients we announced a proprietary hybrid product, which is essentially a debt equity structure. We had a roundtable with the top 10 insurance companies in the UK and we had great conversations with them. As these conversations progressed they liked what they saw, but some like the debt aspect of it while others like the equity aspect of it. So, essentially that hybrid has moved on to focusing on the individual pieces separately. Essentially the fund is the equity part and the bonds, that we are developing through the short term credit facility, is the debt part. So, this is an example of how the conversations have evolved, keep in mind that we're still having discussions on the advisory mandates for separate managed funds, these are ongoing and we’re very optimistic that these will still occur.
Justin Waite:
Okay, Danny, you've worked with every level of investor in this asset class in previous roles of the investors and clients that Alpha is interacting with. What are your thoughts in regards to the strategies you're working on?
Danny Swick:
Well most of the groups that we've worked with in the past would be your typical structure, it would be a closed end fund or an open ended fund structure like we have with Black Oak. Most of the other strategies that we're working on are much more robust and complex. We're taking these life insurance policies and we're using them inside of these vehicles, for example, a bond offering. Doing those types of structures is a little more complicated and it requires a lot more Due Diligence than most of the other structures that we've worked on in the past,
Justin Waite:
OK, understood, how are your announced strategies progressing?

Gobind Sahney:
Yeah, the market is continuing to grow. I would say a lot of that has to do with the marketing and advertising that's going on in the US. There are a lot of radio ads, television commercials, and digital marketing. That's notifying the Consumers that, if they have a life insurance policy and they no longer need it or want it, they have the option to sell it. And, according to the Economy and Research 2019 life settlement report, an estimate of 100,000 minimum face value policies will be sold over the next 10 years, that’s between $180 billion and $230 billion in face value that will be available in the secondary market. Over the next 10 years, the estimate is that each year there will probably be about $6.4 billion in face value settled in the secondary market.
Justin Waite:
Excellent stuff. Okay. So can you go through the stated aspirations and where are they now, please?
Gobind Sahney:
Yeah, I'll take that. So Justin, if you remember we're a startup, we started this company two years ago or, I should say, listed it two years ago. In the conversations we have had with the market for our services we put forward some aspirational targets, these included three to six advisory mandates and approximately four acquisition and disposal mandates by establishing a life settlement backed bond. These were the aspirations that we set out and that we were hoping to achieve. Now, I believe we have achieved some of these aspirations and certainly admit that we have been experiencing market conditions but, for the most part, they are on track and if anything they have only changed the way that we approach them.
Justin Waite:
Yeah, so, so tell me, why did the aspirations change then?

It's long so will need several posts - enjoy and be enthused :)
Justin Waite:
And joining me on the podcast right now is Gobind Sahney, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Danny Swick, Chief Operating Officer and Austin King, head of Investor Relations for the Black Oak Alpha Growth Fund, they're all part, of course, of Alpha Growth (ALGW). Guys, thanks for joining me.
Gobind Sahney:
Thanks for having us Justin. And, you know, I don't want to distract from the current situation of COVID-19, our hearts and minds go out to everybody that's impacted with this. However, we do feel we owe our shareholders this update given that it's the end of Q1 of 2020.
Justin Waite:
So let's proceed. Yeah, absolutely it's affecting everyone but like I said, the best thing we can do is try and, you know, carry on as best we can. And it's a changing landscape. It's always so good for people not familiar with Alpha Growth. First of all, can you sort of recap the business and business model please?
Gobind Sahney:
Yeah, happy to. So, you know, the company's business is to provide Advisory and Consultancy Services to the existing and prospective holders of life settlement assets or longevity assets. This includes giving advice on the acquisition and disposals of those assets, performance monitoring, analytical service in relation to those assets. And very simply, we generate our revenue through fees and these can be earned by combination of transactional and building assets under management. Those are the strategies that we have developed and continue to work on.
Justin Waite:
What is the current state of operations here?
Gobind Sahney:
Yeah, very, very simply, these are US based assets. Our main office where I, Danny, Austin and Rajiv are located is in a professional office park complex in Newport Beach, California. We maintain a lean operation and have administrative and office supports functions that are part of our office complex, you know, again maintaining a lean overhead. We acquired Colva a year ago to incorporate the actuarial expertise into our business. It's been very useful in our various strategies and, even though I think some of our shareholders have noticed that we've modified some of the acquisition terms, which was to accommodate some personal requirements for Rajiv, we still retain all the attributes providing this internal actuarial analysis. We'll be adding skill sets as and when needed, but our mindset is to keep our overhead as low as possible, bring in professionals as needed, keeping a lean operation but yet providing high quality, best of breed, asset management in the longevity asset sector.
Justin Waite:
The Life Settlement market, is it growing at the moment and how is the asset class viewed?

Don't forget that if you don't wish the whole world to know your business there are ways to avoid having to submit a TR-1, especially if you have grown up children who no longer live in the family home :p

ALGW's year end is 31st August. Half year is end February. 3 months from then is end May so that is the deadline.

GS usually replies to my emails. IMO this is more because I made the effort to attend the AGM than the fact that I hold 5% of the shares in ALGW. He has never let anything ‘market sensitive’ slip or given me any more idea of when things might start to move forward again than he has made public.

If you left click on a poster’s name you will get his/her posting history. This can be very revealing. If they only post about the share price, the trades and the market makers then they are a trader and their posts will have one purpose and one purpose only = to move the share price to suit their current position, long or short, in order to make them money. On the other hand if they post information about the Company’s business model, actions, intentions and prospects then they are probably an investor and you can probably take what they say as a starting point for your own research.