CAIS and Bluerock Form Partnership to Bring Interval Fund Access to Independent Wealth Channel

Press Release

May 9, 2018

New interval fund offering on CAIS platform helps registered investment advisors meet mass-affluent demand for alternative strategies

CAIS, the leading financial product platform for independent wealth management, and Bluerock Capital Markets (“Bluerock”) are pleased to announce a strategic partnership that will introduce interval funds onto the CAIS platform, broadening the product selection for independent wealth advisors. The Bluerock interval funds will be available for purchase through custodians via a ticker symbol, and CAIS will use the power of its communication and engagement platform to educate advisors regarding the benefits and opportunities that Bluerock funds represent. In addition to the existing interval funds Bluerock manages, CAIS and Bluerock will work hand-in-hand with the advisor community to create new interval products specifically tailored to their evolving investment needs.

The first Bluerock product available on the CAIS platform—the Bluerock Total Income+ Real Estate Fund (TIPWX)—is an interval fund sub-advised by Mercer and Deutsche Asset Management with a focus on private equity real estate investments. Since inception, the Fund has employed a multi-sector, multi-manager strategy that has provided investors with capital appreciation through net asset value growth, regular cash distributions, and access to a highly diversified portfolio of non-correlated real estate assets. The Total Income+ Fund delivered the highest risk-adjusted returns, as measured by the Sharpe Ratio, among over 1,300 real estate funds tracked by Morningstar in both 2016 and 2017.

“Bluerock’s selection of Mercer as a subadvisor to their interval funds maintains important continuity for the advisors who already use and trust the CAIS platform. Mercer has played a key role in providing independent due diligence on CAIS platform funds since our inception,” said Matt Brown, CAIS Founder and CEO. “CAIS strives to deliver the best and most innovative funds and products to the independent wealth channel and our partnership with Bluerock only furthers that mission.”

An interval fund is a professionally managed investment company registered as a closed-end fund under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and is widely viewed as an investor-friendly alternative product due to its transparent nature. Interval funds calculate NAV daily, offer liquidity events in the form of periodic share repurchases, and provide simple tax reporting via Form 1099s. Advisors may find interval funds particularly attractive for their clients’ portfolios because of the access they provide to private, institutionally managed investment vehicles not readily available to the broader market. The flexibility to invest in illiquid investment vehicles without limitation allows interval funds to pursue higher risk-adjusted returns while providing lower correlations to the volatility of the public equity and fixed income markets.

“Bluerock interval funds afford individuals the opportunity to directly invest at lower minimum investments in a highly diversified, income-generating pool of institutional private equity real estate strategies managed by top-ranked institutional managers,” said Brad Walker, CAIS Managing Director and Head of Alternative Investments. “A growing number of advisors have demonstrated an interest in adding interval funds to their alternative investment mix. Our strategic partnership with Bluerock aligns us with a firm with proven expertise in the space and an innovative approach to creating investment products.”

About Bluerock Capital Markets

Bluerock Capital Markets, LLC serves as the managing broker dealer for Bluerock and is a member of FINRA/SIPC. BCM seeks to provide educational information related to alternative investment opportunities for financial advisors and their clients. The company distributes a broad range of alternative investment products exclusively through broker dealers and investment professionals. Bluerock is a leading alternative investment management firm with over $4.5 billion of Assets Under Management and is headquartered in Manhattan with regional offices across the U.S. Its principals have a collective 115+ years of investing experience, have been involved with over $10 billion in investments, and have helped launch leading private and public company platforms.

About CAIS

CAIS is the pioneer in democratizing access to and education about alternative investments and structured notes for independent advisors, asset managers, and bank issuers, empowering them to engage and transact on a massive scale. We believe that the combination of industry-leading technology and human interaction throughout the pre-trade, trade, and post-trade experience delivers superior operational efficiency and a world-class client experience.

 CAIS provides advisors with access to a broad selection of alternative investment strategies, including hedge funds, private equity, private debt, real estate, infrastructure, and structured notes, allowing them to capitalize on opportunities and withstand ever-changing markets.

CAIS streamlines the end-to-end transaction process through digital subscriptions and powers integrated reporting through leading US custodians and reporting providers, making investing in alternatives simpler.  CAIS also enables advisors to centralize all their alts and notes on one platform, whether they were purchased on or off the CAIS platform, through CAIS Solutions, and helps advisors create custom fund vehicles around ideas they source.

Founded in 2009, CAIS, a fintech leader, supports over 32,000 advisors who oversee more than $4 trillion in network assets. Since its inception, CAIS has facilitated over $30 billion in transaction volume. CAIS has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Austin, and London. For more information about CAIS, please visit www.caisgroup.com.   

Securities offered through CAIS Capital LLC, member FINRA, SIPC.  