INTRO

Trade Financing is as old as civilization started to deal with goods from A to B. The procedure is a simple as normal , as old as sustainable, as crisis-proof as non-mainstream. Trade financers simply finance goods when they are shipped from manufacturer to customer. The hoodwink is to choose the right goods , the trustable counterparts, the right collaterals and the best control of the whole procedure.

During almost 20 years of trade financing our team became very skilled in all those tasks. We look for niches, special products no big junk commodities , more then one potential end-customer in case of non payment , reliable counterparts, insurances, political clean destinations not banned by any  government , relationships accepted by international banks and of course very best financial securities and collaterals not to speak for best profit share yields possible.

The worldwide trade volume is enormous – our niche and cherry picking is minuscule. The normal yields are fair und good  – our yields are profit shares and way over the normal market. The normal financing periods for trades are between 6 and 18 months – we go for cycles of  2 – 8 months , waiting for tranches to be payed back before the next shipment is leaving the port.

Banks don’t like this business to go in, to small, to simple and sophisticated at the same time, just nothing they want to understand and deal with. The perfect environment for private equity. Earning high yields on a simple business with manageable amounts in the one digit millions per deal and short engagements of a few months up to max one year with highest securities and far away from the mainstream. That’s Trade Financing how we like it.

The financial crisis 12 years ago proofed Trade Financing as a safe heaven. We had almost no decline and all trades had been honored – after some delay. The actual Corona crisis despite to be a worldwide tragedy and  economical disaster had a great impact on our trade business – it is booming ! With our financing we can choose to invest our funds to do good (eg financing medical goods to third world countries)  be fast and with no big  document hazels , and still earning good yields for our investors.

Different to our Trade Finance AIF Fund we concentrate with our Bonds on short termed , non Cuba related, trades. Our main focus is still the Caribbean, however we offer more and more bonds covering financing of trades in other parts of the world eg China, Canada, US, UAE etc .

Dr Reto Mebes

Promotor