Find art finance: Art lenders and financiers
If you are looking to borrow against art you own, there have never been so many options. The following institutions all specialize in art lending and could help finance your collection.
Actif-Art
French art leasing company. Offers leases of between 13 months and 48 months.
ArtAssure
Founded by Asher Edelman, a financier and gallerist, Art Assure offers art loans from $250,000 to $250 million. It has also provided guarantees in the past.
www.artassure.com
ArtBank
Run by the Australian government ArtBank supports living Australian contemporary artists by acquiring their work and leasing the collection out to the public.
Artemus Art Leasing
A joint venture between: the Durst Organization – the largest owner of commercial property in New York; Asher Edelman, founder of ArtAssure; and David Storper, formerly of W L Ross & Company. Artemus offers buys art from owners and then leases it back for between five and 10 years. At the end of the lease, lessees can buy the work back, extend the lease or walk away.
www.artemus.com
Art Capital Group
New York art lending service run by Ian Peck. Art Capital typically lends up to $5 million.
Art Finance Partners
A specialist firm dedicated to art finance.
Banque Neuflize OBC
As well as offering advisory to individual collectors, the bank, which has a strong focus on culture, also lends to galleries and dealers.
borro
Borro lends money against your asset but only once you have given them your art for safe-keeping.
Citi Private Bank Art Advisory and Finance
Offering finance since 1979, Citi Private Bank is one of the pioneers of Art Finance and has one of the biggest portfolios. Also offers advisory.
Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management
Deutsche Bank have offer advisory services for art research, buying & selling, administration and protection, lending and estate planning and collection management.
Emigrant Bank Fine Art Finance
Established art financier lends to individuals, art dealers, trusts, estates, foundations, and museums.
Falcon Fine Art
Targeting $2 million to $15 million transactions, owners can keep art in England and Wales or place in tax free storage. True asset lender so no need to keep asset under management and will also close loans without guarantees.
www.falconfineart.com
Fine Art Partners
Privately financed Fine Art Partners offer investment services to give differentiated, advice to dealers, collectors and artists estates
www.fineartpartners.com
Foundation
Launched as a membership company for galleries, Foundation offers factoring to galleries and dealers where it pays in advance and in return for taking invoices.
Goldman Sachs
Offers art loans to individuals in the US.
Lux Mac
Offers an alternative to selling the clients assets to free up capital by allowing them to borrow against their art collection.
Minsheng Bank
China’s largest private bank is offering RMB financing for Chinese nationals.
Montage Finance
Provides loans of between $500,000 and $25,000,000 and will also invest equity.
Platinum Art
Offers loans for art buyers and dealers.
Prime Art Capital
A boutique art advisory and investment management firm with a focus on technology.
Privatbank Berlin
Loans from Eu100,000 upwards with art stored in art storage. Works with owners, galleries and dealers.
Right Capital
Structures art lending for owners, galleries and others. Right Capital is based in London and sources debt. Holds art as collateral in storage. Offers loans of over £100,000, specializing in transactions between £250,000 and £5 million. Planning to open a Luxembourg office.
Rosenthal & Rosenthal
Privately held financing company that offer specialized asset based lending to art dealers and galleries.
Soc Gen Private Bank Art Advisory
Offer a wide range of art advisory services
Sotheby’s Fine Art Investment
Offers loans to both owners who have agreed to sell items at auction and against collections.
Thomas González Art Loans
Based in Berlin (where it is known as Thomas Gonzalez Kunstbeleihung) it offers art loans between Eu500,000 to Eu100 million. Closed art loans worth a total of Eu55 million between 2009 and 2014.
US Trust
The private bank arm of Bank of America.
Valendo
New German online asset lender. Offers loans from Eu1,500 upwards and claims to need just 24 hours. Also offers loans until assets are sold.
Willstone Management
Specialist financier, Willlstone has secured $100 million from two New York hedge funds and lends to individuals, dealers and galleries. Offices in London, New York, and Hong Kong.
Art finance advisory
ABN Amro Private Bank Art Advisory
Run by the Neuflize OBC bank, ABN Amro offer advisory services for art brokerage and estate planning. It also offers advice on collection management.
Artvest
A specialist consultancy set up by ex-Christies finance specialists, Arvest also regularly arranges finance.
Ascent Private Capital Management – US Bank
Specialise in global macro strategies which include advising estate planning and heritage for families that own or want to invest in art.
Berenberg Bank Art Advisory
Offer advice for building and managing collections as well as advice during the investment process.
BSI Group, Wealth Management
Working with FAIR (Fine Art Investment & Research) BSI offer advisory services for buying, selling and valuing art. They also offer valuation and due diligence services.
HSBC
Working with international art advisory firm 1858 Ltd HSBC offers an art advisory service for those wanting to build collections fine art and design pieces.
LGT Private Bank and Wealth Management
A Swiss private bank, part of the LGT group, LGT Private bank and wealth management offers fine art advisory as part of their core services.
Link Management
Working with both financial institutions and private to build fine art investment strategies. Also manages bespoke investment strategies based on the individual client.
www.link-management.lu
Tutela
Offer consultancy for customized asset solutions. Specialising in quantitative analysis of alternative assets, art valuation, market analysis, strategic asset allocation and statistical modelling.
UBS
UBS principally offers advisory (rather than finance) through what it calls it “Art Competence Centre”
A quick guide to art lending
The principles of art lending are not that different to arranging a loan backed by your house. And it makes just as much sense. Rather than locking up your wealth in your collection, art loans allow you to borrow against your collection.
“As an auctioneer I have met many people, some of whom who may have inherited works, where they have 85% of 95% of the wealth tied up in great pieces of art,” says Simon De Pury, the art auctioneer and collector, speaking at the launch of Falcon Fine Art. “Being able to free up some of that wealth could be of real use to them.”
Art based lending became a formal market in the US in the 1980s – Citi Private Bank launched its art finance and advisory team in 1979 – with the market contracting when the art boom ended in the early 1990s. The same thing happened in the run up to 2007.
Art lenders and financiers can typically be divided into three groups:
- traditional bank lenders like Citi, Emigrant and US Trust that will also rely on the borrower’s credit (and existing relationships. They may allow borrowers to keep custody of their art depending where they are based;
- niche art financiers and auction houses – like Art Capital, Falcon Art Finance and Sotherby’s that offer a mix of products;
- and pure non-recourse lenders like Arbitrage, borro or Right Capital that act like traditional pawnbrokers and place the asset in storage;
Non-recourse loans are ones where there is no-recourse to the borrower. Or more simply you have not given personal guarantees to repay the loan. Lenders can do this because they have the right to sell the art that the loan was backed against. But because art values can fall, they are only likely to finance between around 50% of the art’s value.
Article first published in April 2014 last updated March 2015. If you have any comments or would like to add a financier please email: [email protected]