Skate’s Art Loans Database

WHO BORROWS AGAINST ART? HUNDREDS OF GALLERIES, INDIVIDUALS, AND FOUNDATIONS DO – TRACK THEM WITH SKATE’S ART LOANS DATABASE NOW

Skate’s has recently completed an extensive database of all the public UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) filings that are practiced in the United States and even some international lending transactions to secure a pledge over artworks used as collateral in art lending agreements. The Skate’s Art Loans Database launches on October 12, 2015, and we here offer an extract showcasing some uses of data assembled. Once launched on October 12, 2015, for subscription-only access, the Skate’s Art Loans Database will carry information on approximately 500 active and repaid art loans and over 100 art lenders and borrowers, as well as details on pledged artworks. The Skate’s Art Loans Database will be updated twice a month.

For a continuously updated list of all the UCC filings made by borrowers under art loan agreements (including the inaugural list of over 500 filings to be significantly expanded in 2016) and matching data on their related auction records, please subscribe to Skate’s Art Loans Database now for a special offer of $895 per annum (this special offer expires on January 31, 2016).

Here are some snippets of art business intelligence from Skate’s Art Loans Database:

Christie’s Loans Target Hot Auction Items

Unlike Sotheby’s Finance unit, which is very public about its business and discloses lending results quarterly, Christie’s art finance activity is very discreet but no less vibrant, with Skate’s Art Loans Database carrying records of over 100 of Christie’s art lending transactions. The firm seems to make very targeted loans aimed at winning prize consignments from a select group of dealers and galleries with which it conducts business, with related artworks making immediate way to the auction market. Here are a few examples:

Dominique Levy’s $13 Million Warhol Waits to Enter the Market

On November 12, 2013, Christie’s sold Andy Warhol’s Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Grand Prix Car (Streamlined Version, 1954) for a total consideration of $13.045 million (purchase price including buyer’s premium). This artwork is listed in Skate’s Top 10,000 database of the world’s most valuable artworks as the 703rd most valuable artwork ever sold at auction market. Three months later Dominique Levy gallery accepted the 5-year-old pledge deal with Christie’s Private Sales, due to expire on February 21, 2019, for this Warhol work. Watch for this Mercedes to drive back to the market within the next few years.

Leon Malca Made Good Money on Basquiat with Christie’s Help

Leon Malca and his Panamanian vehicle LEALMA S.A. entered the 5-year-old pledge deal with Christie’s Private Sales on July 13, 2011, for Basquait’s Catharsis, an acrylic-on-canvas triptych created in 1983. Four months later Christie’s sold the work for $4.3 million, yielding a 14.15% annualized investment return to Leon Malca over a 5.5-year investment horizon1. The piece is currently listed as the 3168th most valuable work in Skate’s Top 10,000 database, and Leon Malca and his Panamanian vehicle LEALMA S.A. repaid their loan to Christie’s well ahead of time.

Christie’s Wins Calder Consignment from Sotheby’s with Loan to a South Korean Seller

In May 2006 Sotheby’s sold Alexander Calder’s Three White Dots and One Yellow (a hanging mobile of painted sheet metal and wire), painted in 1967, for $1.36 million. Calder works are very liquid and a prize consignment, hence in November of last year Christie’s went all the way to issue the loan to One and J Gallery of Seoul, South Korea, reflected with a five-year pledge deal for this artwork with Christie’s Private Sales, set to expire on November 20, 2019. Expect it on the auction market shortly.

Sotheby’s Is Working with Trusts

When heirless David Copley, the Californian newspaper publisher and gregarious collector of prime real estate, cars, and art, died of heart attack at the age of 60, at the end of 2012, the sale of his various assets was a big enough story for the San Diego newspaper he used to own to run extensive coverage.

Following its all-Ds mantra (death, divorce, distress, and so forth), Sotheby’s rushed to help and won the business to sell the art—a 6-page listing in 12-point font pledged to Sotheby’s against the loan issued to David C. Copley Trust. The UCC filing along with the complete art collection listing, which includes artworks by Corot, Warhol, Calder, Baldessari, Sargent, Lichtenstein, Hockney, and dozens of other artists, can be downloaded from Skate’s Art Loans Database.

Based on the wealth of filings found in Skate’s Art Loans Database, Sotheby’s is working well with institutional collections and trusts firms that you would not expect to be interested in borrowing against art (for example, Sotheby’s acted as Art Collateral Agent within the Goldman Sachs–arranged loan for News Corp that requested News Corp put up art as collateral).

Phillips Lends Against Lower Price Point Collectibles

Skate’s Art Loans Database includes the names of a dozen art lenders including auction houses, specialized art finance companies, banks, and special-purpose vehicles identified through Skate’s data-mining algorithm as art-lending vehicles.

Phillips auction house is one of many examples of an art lender that is both prolific with its art finance activities and discreet about it. Here are a few examples:

In 2012 Gagosian Gallery entered into a consignment deal with Phillips for an untitled Christopher Wool painting from 2005, taking the short-term loan against $1.2 million in proceeds from the sale of the artwork. Since then the piece has been been sold, and Gagosian has repaid the loan to Phillips.

In 2013 Paris-based Galerie Patrick Seguin consigned to Phillips a massive collection of design objects and decorative art pieces (including armchairs and wardrobes, some of which are valued below $30,000) valued at $1,866,000. This inventory is methodically being sold by Phillips within the 5-year-deal term that is set to expire on October 22, 2018.

Phillips is able to use its art-finance capabilities to win consignments even for smaller and almost retail deals, such as the consignment of a chromogenic print from the series “Jackies (in ketchup), 1999” by Vik Muniz from the U.S. collector Amy Weinstein.

 
For a continuously updated list of all the UCC filings made by borrowers under art loan agreements (including the inaugural list of over 500 filings to be significantly expanded in 2016) and matching data on their related auction records, please subscribe to Skate’s Art Loans Database now for a special offer of $895 per annum (this special offer expires on January 31, 2016) or emailskate@skatepress.com with any inquiries.

Source: Skate’s

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