skandia life. brandeaux suspened

lindabloo · 14 January 2009 at 12:44PM

I have 100k invested in this company. The money is invested in ground rents and produces about 8% interest a year and is based in the Isle of Mann. At the moment they have suspended their shares because one broker wanted all his clients to redeem their investment. This happened on 12th December and I still received my monthly interest and they said this was only a short term problem as they didnt want to have to sell their investments at very cheap prices and will sort the problem out as quickly as possible What do you think? My broker said it is absolutely safe.

dunstonh · 14 January 2009 at 3:07PM

The Skandia Life bit is irrelevent. They are just the provider of the wrapper and not the investment. You have an offshore bond that gives you virtually whole of market access to investments of all sorts.

So, is that £100k in the wrapper is it that £100k in the brandeaux investment?

Whatever it is, when you invest in property (either indirectly using funds or directly) it is not a liquid investment and delays can occur. Fund managers dealing in property can suspend dealing requests for up to 6 months typically. Quite a few already have and that is normal in a house price crash.

whiteflag_3 · 14 January 2009 at 4:09PM

lindabloo wrote: »

I have 100k invested in this company. The money is invested in ground rents and produces about 8% interest a year and is based in the Isle of Mann. At the moment they have suspended their shares because one broker wanted all his clients to redeem their investment. This happened on 12th December and I still received my monthly interest and they said this was only a short term problem as they didnt want to have to sell their investments at very cheap prices and will sort the problem out as quickly as possible What do you think? My broker said it is absolutely safe.

I would have thought this was an experienced investor fund, so you should be able to fully understand what your in, or your "broker" should not have arranged this for you

biffybear · 20 January 2009 at 4:37PM

I have money invested in Brandeaux student accommodation fund through Friends Provident. Am a bit new to this game and would like your thoughts on the suspension. Does that mean that my money is in danger, should I take it out when the dealing starts again? Are the company just being cautious or has this fatally damaged the fund? Any comments would be welcome.

dunstonh · 20 January 2009 at 6:05PM

have money invested in Brandeaux student accommodation fund through Friends Provident. Am a bit new to this game

You are a bit new to this game but have gone into an experienced investor product? Talk about diving in at the deep end of a shark infested pool with a blindfold on and your hands tied behind your back.

Does that mean that my money is in danger, should I take it out when the dealing starts again?

You are in an illiquid risk based investment. You are now suffering the consequences of that.

are the company just being cautious or has this fatally damaged the fund?

They dont have the money to pay redemptions. Not unusual in bad times but your money is effectively tied up until they have the money.

sabretoothtigger · 20 January 2009 at 6:54PM

So long as they pay that 8% interest it doesnt sound too bad but I'd expect that return if fixed might actually be returning some of the original capital.

Are things like this covered by the 100k life investment guarantee thing or is that something else

claretmatt · 20 January 2009 at 10:17PM

I've found this which might help

======================================================

UPDATE FROM KAY BRANDEAUX
Dear Supporters, Brokers, and Advisers,
As the founder and chairman of Brandeaux, I am writing to give you an update on our progress over the last few weeks and to give an outline of our plans for moving forward.
The decision on 12th December to suspend dealing across all funds was a difficult but necessary one to protect all shareholders. I am acutely aware of the worry and concern this must have caused and that you are unnerved and disappointed by this action. I apologise to you all, and especially to those handful of people who wanted to redeem a small portion of their investment ahead of Christmas.
I am overwhelmed with your supportive response and encouragement to get Brandeaux’s funds ‘back to normal’ and able to accept new money. Your loyalty and feedback is extremely important, and it is something I do not take for granted. I thank those of you who have given us your views and comments and have made important input into our plans for moving forward.
The Brandeaux team are committed to putting in place a structure which will give stronger protection against a re-occurrence of the situation which occurred in December, when there was a sudden and high level of redemption requests which, had they been actioned, would have seriously damaged the liquidity of the funds and jeopardised their ability to continue to operate.
We intend to offer a new share class with longer redemption terms more appropriate to the assets of the funds in the current turbulent financial markets. We believe that we are on course for a sensible and workable solution
We will initially offer a new share class for Brandeaux Student Accommodation Fund, following through next with the dual asset funds, namely Brandeaux Sterling, US Dollar, and Euro Funds. The Ground Rent funds will follow as quickly as practical.
Once the new share class is up and running, we will offer the existing investors the opportunity to switch into the new share class. In simple words, this should begin to ‘unlock’ the current situation.
Our goal is to have the new share class for Brandeaux Student Accommodation Fund open for new subscriptions, hopefully within the next two to three weeks. We ask your patience as there is a vast amount of documentation and administrative detail to put in place.
In spite of the painful experience this situation has brought about, we believe that we will, through the new share class, have a stronger and far more robust structure for the protection of all shareholders.
There is no perfect solution. We are all only too aware that we are working in uncharted waters. The turbulence we all have experienced in the world financial markets over the past year is without parallel or precedent. Every well-run business must move with the times and adapt to changing conditions in order to be successful. This is what we are striving to do.
On behalf of myself and all of the Brandeaux team, I say an enormous thank-you for your support, understanding, input, and patience while we work through this process. We are making good progress and will report again very shortly.
My very best wishes for a happy and successful 2009.
[FONT=&quot] cid:signature%20firstname.gif

[/FONT]
Kay Brandeaux
Chairman

mishko_2 · 24 January 2009 at 12:07PM

Lindabloo and Biffybear, like you I have a part of my life savings invested in those Brandeaux funds. I have learned to take any advice I get from so-called Independent Financial Advisers with a large dose of salts! Especially as one of them got me into these funds.

My advice for you (and for myself!) is "Do your own research and don't trust anyone." It's much easier these days with the internet.

I did this today and came up with this interesting tidbit from Timesonline (Jan 18 2009):
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article5536439.ece.
"Kay Brandeaux and Roger Boyland - a British couple who made a fortune investing in student accommodation - broke the record for a villa in Cologny. They paid 45.6m Swiss francs for the hilltop pad that has views over Lake Geneva."

Let's just hope and pray there is no connection between this purchase and the suuspension of their funds a few weeks before!

lupomen · 29 January 2009 at 8:14AM

Can anyone hazard a guess about the implications of the letter from Kay Brandeaux regarding a new share class ? I am one of those people who have what for us is a large sum invested and add income to our retirement finances from the fund. Any best as to the direction this is taking ?

Best wishes

sabretoothtigger · 29 January 2009 at 8:24AM

Standard life has done something similar. I think they are implementing a queue system, you can leave as new people invest and money becomes available through normal sales
Forced sales because of high redemptions would obviously damage value.

I guess this new share system is similar, to separate short term holders and sellers from long term holders

claretmatt · 31 January 2009 at 10:12PM

mishko wrote: »

Lindabloo and Biffybear, like you I have a part of my life savings invested in those Brandeaux funds. I have learned to take any advice I get from so-called Independent Financial Advisers with a large dose of salts! Especially as one of them got me into these funds.

My advice for you (and for myself!) is "Do your own research and don't trust anyone." It's much easier these days with the internet.

I did this today and came up with this interesting tidbit from Timesonline (Jan 18 2009):
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article5536439.ece.
"Kay Brandeaux and Roger Boyland - a British couple who made a fortune investing in student accommodation - broke the record for a villa in Cologny. They paid 45.6m Swiss francs for the hilltop pad that has views over Lake Geneva."

Let's just hope and pray there is no connection between this purchase and the suuspension of their funds a few weeks before!

I think you are being a little harsh especially as the fund has showed continued growth during recent turbulant times with the annual return being still over 8%.

Having spoken to Brandeaux my assumption is that the new share class will be launched with a specific period for redemptions (maybe 6 months) and the launch is to ensure that this or a similar situation does not happen again.

Their move to suspend the fund was ultimately aimed at the investors including the above to avoid having to fire sell any of the assets, which would ultimately disadvantage the share holders.

skandia life. brandeaux suspened

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