Absolutely. I canāt imagine being so entitled as to expect your lawyer, bank staff, immigration staff, etc to work over the holidays to save you some money due to poor planning on your part
1 Like
Hi Susana, I am interested in learning more about this fund. Thanks.
Hi Jerry,
Thanks for your email. Please send me a message via this link and we can start the conversation there.
Hello Everyone! Just joined the community!
First let me thank you all for the help that, without knowing, youāve been providing.
@faizal thanks so much for that spreadsheet! Is it still updated?
Iāve been searching accross all the info that is available for GV funds in Portugal and Iāve came in contact with Gaia Investment Fund. Does anyone have heard of them?
Thanks!!
1 Like
Hi Jonny,
Could you PM me the contact number or email address with BPI bank to enquire about pre-clearance for the BPI Portugal FIAA fund? Had just PMed you, THKS.
Hi - sure. The guy who helped me is Pedro Alves. He was terrific
Pedro Neves Alves
BPI | Centro Premier Saldanha
Av. da Republica nĀŗ3 A/B/C, 1050 - 185 Lisboa
Tel: + 351 21 350 80 80 (Ext: 3201151) | Fax: + 351 21 314 18 49
Thks for your reply Jonny,
Plus did they mention to you whether the shares you hold remained compliant with the golden visa rule if the fund value drops, which may be an issue at renewal of the golden GV?
1 Like
Yes, if you invest the required amount at the start it counts as an investment of the required amount for ever after. So there should never be a need to top up.
Hi guys,
After long and painstaking search, I have shorted 4 funds
- Explorer IV (Track record)
- EQTY Capital (Conservative Real estate approach)
- Iberis Capital Yield Fund (Iberis Capital Track record + Conservative real estate approach)
- C2ās MedCapital (Just discovered this today and Iāve heard good things from other users in this forum).
Now Iām in a deadlock and cannot decide between these. If anyone went through a similar process, what did you end up choosing and why? Alternatively, does anyone know an advisor/attorney that provides financial advice regarding choice of funds? My attorney doesnāt provide financial advice apparently.
1 Like
I thought MedCap died.
Attorneys probably donāt make great financial advisors.
The problem with most advisors is that they will generally have an axe to grind, namely the kickbacks they get from one fund or another. I donāt care what they say, they get financial incentives, and those financial incentives vary fund to fund. The advisor might or might not have your best interest at heart as a result, and itās hard to know.
Explorerās track record is ok. Just ok.
I donāt recall why I didnāt like EQTY. Most of the real estate ones bother me anyway, thereās so many me-toos all concentrated in sectors and what they call conservative isnāt what Iād call conservative, though I think theyāre starting to pivot to the BlueCrow model of diversified real estate (which now concerns me because thereās a ton of cash all chasing the same stuff). Iberis, well, how can a firm started in 2017 have much of a track record? But certainly a number of people have gone that way.
I think you end up talking to them all and going with the one that gives you the most warm-fuzzies.
1 Like
Thanks for the response. I have to say for some reason, my gut feeling says to go with Explorer. My gut feeling doesnāt have a great track record though.
What do you think of Portugal Gateway? It gave a bit of odd feeling for some reason. But on paper, Portugal Ventures as a fund manager seems like a good bet.
PG seems like a good idea, as you say. The pedigree is there. Itās high risk since itās earlier stage startup and focused on a specific set of opportunities that may or may not have enough deal flow to actualize. So far they havenāt found anything, I donāt know why but havenāt gotten around to asking either.
Private equity is harder than public equity simply because itās less transparent and there are no indexes and fewer required disclosures. Thatās just the nature of it. Youāre somewhat flinging money against a wall and hoping.
I am concerned about the space generally simply because so much money has been flung at it in short order by all these Americans, a lot of it aimed at commercial real estate now, and when you fling a lot of money at a limited market deal quality is bound to go down as are returns as too much money chases too few deals. And asset managers are incentivized to collect cash even if they canāt deploy it because of the 1-2% fee. Butā¦ cost of the visa, I guess. Anyway, this would make me far more concerned about Iberis / EQTY simply because they are in the real estate space which is what is getting the cash mostly. But thatās me.
I donāt think Explorer is a terrible option. The only real issue is the recent change in control due to the death of one of the partners a year or two ago and whether the loss of that person will have an effect. The returns were middling to ok and they got through 2008 without utterly losing their shirt. They feel like a āsafeā option if you are trying to avoid real estate.
1 Like
I took had a difficult time in deciding which funds to invest in.
Initially, I picked Explorer because itās run by a reputable manager. However, they did not promise PFIC financial statements for US taxpayers and thus I backed out.
I then invest in Iberis PYF II and Aston Gold, which are both Qualifying Electing Funds. Hope they go well. I am happy to answer questions and help as I learned so much from this forum.
2 Likes
I have decided not to go with Explorer IV as it requires me to have Qualified investor status and thereās not enough time.
Now for me, itās down to EQTY and Iberis Capital, i am personally much more comfortable with real estate based funds than venture capital and private equity due to lack of proper track records. With real estate (non-leveraged), atleast the risk of total capital loss is low
I like C2 MedCapitalās team. But given small Portuguese market, not sure how such niche focus fund will do. So iāll be skipping that. Do you guys have any other recommendations?
1 Like
Agree on higher risks for VC/PE funds and there are only a handful with track record.
Real estate funds also come with some risks - some have construction risks, others have a conflict of interest, and there might be some concentration risks as well especially in residential.
Bluecrow, Iberis (yield2) and MedCapital are reasonable choices. I would also suggest looking at some others like Oxy (Vesta) in the real-estate space. Other that that there are certain focussed real estate funds like Iberian Student, which are interesting as well.
I have left out a few names which didnāt appeal to me personally. But please reach out if you would like to get other names/feedback on them.
I have created a new spreadsheet based on my interactions with fund managers in February and March 2022. It includes about 2 dozen funds and summary of key parameters. Please DM me know if anyone would like it, thanks.
1 Like
This is the impression I got initially as well about Bluecrow after a call with them.
However, after reading the management regulations and prodding them further, they confirmed the 10% performance fee includes amount of dividends distributed.
Hello, I invested in Rock Capital last year. however, due to personal issues, I am in need of capital and hence looking to exit my investment. Please let me know if anyone is looking to buy into Rock Capital. I can transfer my Euro 350K investment. Rock Capital is not taking new investments so it is a good opportunity for anyone interested in investing in Rock Capital. If interested, please DM me
1 Like