The “sleep test” for an investor is whether the investor can deploy capital in an investment and still sleep soundly at night knowing that investment’s risk is managed and minimised.
The two key factors to a successful sleep test are:
- the quality of the asset class
- the quality of the asset manager
Investments that usually pass the sleep test have fixed income-like characteristics. The Life Settlements sector – providing financing to older Americans backed by that person’s life policy – is seen as a possible candidate given the near zero correlation to equity markets and the stability of returns. As an asset class, Life Settlements passes the sleep test for most investors.
However, not all managers are the same and it is necessary to qualify the second factor in having confidence in the quality of the team managing the assets.
The founder of Laureola Advisors believes that its team of 12 is about the most experienced amongst Life Settlement fund managers.
Tony Bremness has over 35 years of experience in investment management. He founded Laureola Advisors in 2012. He brought Chris Erwin onboard to provide expertise in sourcing and closing transactions. Then Eva Chan joined to provide her 20 years’ experience and expertise in operations and fund administration. The team continued to grow with other professionals joining, including Rebecca Archibald with 15 years of experience in policy administration and Geoff Palya as co-portfolio manager. The team has a combined experience of more than 95 years and has reviewed and transacted thousands of policies with total face value in USD billions.
The 4-member investment team is supported by a panel of medical and scientific experts who have decades of experience in their respective fields. The medical panel helps Laureola Advisors pick better transactions to deploy our capital to.
“We maximise the unique investment opportunities available in Life Settlements to provide consistent double-digit returns, as well as the safety and non-correlation that attract investors to the asset class.
Laureola ensures the broad sourcing of policies, including through some unique channels; many Laureola holdings were never seen by other buyers.
“Our investment strategies are developed to capture the stable, non-correlated returns available from investing in mortality. Through our developed expertise, we focus on policies where the insured is not expected to meet life expectancy – we add alpha through security selection, in addition to taking advantage of market beta,” said Alex Lee, Melbourne-based Laureola executive.
Alex Lee CFA
Director, Investor Relations – Australia and New Zealand
Laureola Advisors Inc.
Email: alee@laureolaadvisors.com
Laureola Advisors
Tony Bremness is based in Europe and can be contacted at Tony.Bremness@laureolaadvisors.com