如何用艺术品获得低息贷款

Amassing wealth is terrific─as long as you can tap into it when you need to.

积累财富是件绝妙的事情──因为当你需要的时候就能够利用它们。

But what if many of your assets are illiquid?

但是如果你的财产很多都是非现金性质的，那该怎么办呢？

That is a common problem among some wealthier investors. When the perfect investment opportunity comes along─say, a real-estate project or private-equity fund─these investors are unable to redeploy funds quickly.

在一些比较富裕的投资者中，这是一个普遍的问题。当绝好的投资机会到来时──比如，一个房地产项目或者私募基金──这些投资者无法迅速调动资金。

To combat the problem, investors increasingly are turning to low-interest-rate loans from private banks or wealth-management firms to tap anywhere from $75,000 to hundreds of millions of dollars. They use a pool of their own securities, artwork or even aircraft as collateral.

为了应对这个问题，越来越多的投资者从私人银行或财富管理公司申请低息贷款，借取75,000至数以百万计美元不等的资金。他们使用自己持有的有价证券、艺术品甚至飞机作为抵押。

Corporate executives have borrowed against their stock holdings for years using such loans. Known as 'structured lending' or 'borrowing against holdings,' the practice grew more popular among smaller investors in 2012, say executives at wealth-management firms and private banks.

公司高管们通过这类贷款用所持股票作抵押借取资金已经有好些年了。财富管理公司和私人银行的高管们说，这种操作行为人称“结构性贷款”或“股份抵押借贷”，2012年在小投资者中越来越流行了。

At Raymond James Bank, a subsidiary of Raymond James Financial, a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based financial-services company, securities-based loans outstanding rose to $414 million at the end of 2012 from $41 million in March.

瑞杰银行(Raymond James Bank)是总部位于佛罗里达州圣皮特斯堡(St. Petersburg)的金融服务公司瑞杰金融集团(Raymond James Financial)下属的子公司。该银行以有价证券作抵押的未偿贷款从2012年3月的4,100万美元上升到了年底的4.14亿美元。

'People are feeling a lot more comfortable and want to re-enter business transactions,' says Anne McCosker, co-head of credit products at the Wealth and Investment Management division of Barclays . 'At the same time, banks are generally increasing their appetite for credit again.'

巴克莱银行(Barclays)财富和投资管理部负责信贷产品的联合主管安妮•麦科斯克(Anne McCosker)说，“人们现在感觉轻松多了，想要重新进入商业交易领域。与此同时，银行也普遍重新增加了放贷量。”

Securities-based loans, or loans made against pools of securities, are increasingly attractive to clients because of their low interest rates and flexibility, says Jordan Waxman, a managing director and partner at HighTower's HSW Advisors, which has about $1 billion under management. Currently, annual interest rates fluctuate between 1% and 2%. He says loan liabilities comprise $60 million of assets under management at his practice.

HighTower公司所属HSW Advisors的常务董事及合伙人乔丹•韦克斯曼(Jordan Waxman)说，有价证券类贷款，也就是以有价证券为抵押获取的贷款，因其低利率和灵活性的特点对客户越来越有吸引力。HSW Advisors管理的财富达10亿美元左右。目前此类贷款的年利率在1%和2%之间波动。韦克斯曼说他管理的资产中60%是贷款负债。

Clients have been using the loans for opportunistic investments that should return more than the cost of borrowing the capital to invest, Mr. Waxman says. Depending on the loan, there might also be no set 'due date' for when clients have to repay the loans.

韦克斯曼说，客户使用这种贷款进行机会性投资，这些投资的回报高于借贷的成本。根据具体情况，有的贷款可能没有设定客户必须偿还贷款的“到期日”。

The loans carry advantages and drawbacks.

这类贷款有利有弊。

On the positive side, the loans let people keep their portfolios intact, without having to forsake future profits in the market and having to incur capital gains, says Andrew Kaiser, chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs Bank USA, a unit of Goldman Sachs Group.

高盛集团(Goldman Sachs Group)下属美国高盛银行(Goldman Sachs Bank USA)的首席执行长安德鲁•凯泽(Andrew Kaiser)说，从有利的方面来看，这类贷款可以让人保持投资组合的完整性，无须放弃未来的市场利润，也无须交纳资本利得税。

Borrowers should remember they must pay back the loan with interest─and might end up having to sell of a portion of their securities to do so if the value of the securities declines, warns Bill Geis, executive vice president of retail lending at Raymond James Bank. Typically, clients use the income generated by the investments made possible by the loan to pay it back. But if those investments sour, the borrower still is on the hook.

瑞杰银行负责零售贷款的执行副总裁比尔•盖斯(Bill Geis)警告说，借款者应该记住，他们偿还贷款时必须支付利息──如果证券的价值下跌，他们可能最终不得不卖掉部分证券来还贷。一般来说，客户使用成就他们投资的贷款所产生的收益来偿还贷款，但是如果那些投资失败，借款者便会陷入困境。

The interest rate on the loans tends to be floating, says Mike McPartland, head of investment finance for North America at Citi Private Bank, a unit of Citigroup. The rate is typically tied to the 30-day London interbank offered rate. If the interest rate is Libor plus one percentage point and the 30 day-Libor is 0.25%, then the interest rate on the loan would be 1.25%. Some firms offer fixed rates as well, says Ms. McCosker of Barclays.

花旗集团(Citigroup)下属北美花旗私人银行(North America at Citi Private Bank)的投资财务负责人迈克•麦帕特兰德(Mike McPartland)说，这类贷款的利率往往是浮动的。它的利率一般是和30天的伦敦银行同业拆借利率(London interbank offered rate,简称Libor)相关联的。如果这种贷款的利率是Libor+1%，而30天的Libor是0.25%，那么它的利率就是1.25%。巴克莱银行的麦科斯克说，有些贷款也提供固定利率。

Loans differ depending on the nature of the collateral, Mr. McPartland says. For example, securities that are less volatile, like municipal bonds and Treasurys, will on average command an 'advance rate' of 85%. So, if you put up $50 million worth of securities, you would receive a loan worth $43 million. The advance rate would be lower if the securities were noninvestment grade.

麦帕特兰德说，贷款因抵押品性质的不同而有差异。比如，像市政债券和国库券这些稳定性较好的证券平均会获得85%的“放款率”。因此，如果你的抵押债券价值5,000万美元，你会得到4,300万美元的贷款。如果债券属于非投资级债券，放款率就会低一些。

Banks are more likely to lend against more liquid offerings, like securities, than against assets like interests in a hedge fund or private-equity fund that are harder to value, says Mindy Rosenthal, executive director of the Institute for Private Investors, a New York group for high-net-worth families.

纽约为高净值家庭服务的私人投资者学院(Institute for Private Investors)的执行董事明迪•罗森塔尔(Mindy Rosenthal)说,相对对冲基金投资和私募基金投资这些比较难以估价的资产，银行更愿意以证券等流动性更强的资产为抵押发放贷款。

Still, Stephen Brodie, a partner at law firm Herrick, Feinstein in New York who represents six different private banks in lending to high-net-worth individuals, says art loans are 'far more common' today than they were three or four years ago.

六家向高净值个人提供贷款的私人银行的法律代表、纽约Herrick, Feinstein律师事务所的合伙人斯蒂芬•布罗迪(Stephen Brodie)说，如今艺术品抵押贷款比三、四年前“常见多了”。

Works of art can be tough to sell quickly, and usually have advance rates from 40% to 50% of a conservative value estimate, Mr. Brodie says. Interest rates on those loans might be Libor plus two or three percentage points, says Scott Milleisen, a capital adviser at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, a unit of J.P. Morgan Chase.

布罗迪说，艺术品很难快速出售，通常其放款率只有其保守估价的40%-50%。摩根大通(J.P. Morgan Chase)下属摩根大通私人银行(J.P. Morgan Private Bank)的资本顾问斯科特•米莱森(Scott Milleisen)说,这类贷款的利率可能是Libor加2-3个百分点。

To use art as collateral, clients also must pay appraisal fees to the bank─but they usually get to keep the art on their walls.

要使用艺术品作抵押，客户也必须向银行支付估价费──但是他们通常能把艺术品继续挂在自家的墙上。