Castlestone has unveiled its Collection of Modern Art fund, an eight-year closed-ended vehicle opening to investors in May.
The British Virgin Islands-domiciled fund will be managed by Angus Murray, who has been advising on modern art since 2000, and supported by representatives from auction houses, dealers as well as artists themselves.
It is being pre-marketed in the UK, Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East and has already secured an initial $25m investment plus a further $25m in agreed obligations.
Minimum investment starts at $10,000 or £10,000, and the fund can only be accessed through professional intermediaries. Monthly liquidity is available, subject to a dilution adjustment for early redemption. The annual management charge is 1%, and it carries a 20% performance fee that is subject to a loss carry-forward provision.
Murray will seek to create a diversified collection of museum-quality modern art from a variety of genres, including: impressionist, post-war, contemporary, sculpture, urban art and photography.
AMR Art Index
The fund targets artworks predominately by artists within the AMR Art 100 Index who have an established history of strong secondary-market prices – this includes contemporary British artists such as Banksy and Damien Hirst.
Research by Mei and Moses has shown that art gave investors an average annual return of 7.7% a year between 1875 and 2000. That compares to a return of just 6.6% from equities.
