Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Journal: Owner of private investment company ethicalCapital Scott Marinchek has formed a new business, Aviiid Group, to invest in property, businesses and social infrastructure catering for retirees.
A funds management arm, Aviiid Third-Age Living, is currently involved in soft fundraising and plans to formally launch efforts to raise capital early in the new year. Aviiid Fund 1 will be an unlisted closed-end fund with an investment horizon of 10 years. The target closing date for the fund is the end of Q2 2010.
Mr Marinchek, who is managing director of Aviiid Group, said the new fund was very much an investor requested product and he expected it to attract $350-$600 million. He said institutional investors had shown interest in the vehicle and one, an investment bank catering to high net worth individual investors, was considering the possibility of establishing a retail feeder fund.
Mr Marinchek said his parents had been involved in developing real estate projects for retirees in the US when he was growing up and he had long recognised the needs for better and more extensive accommodation and services for the ageing as well as better funding for such facilities.
In 2007 Mr Marinchek was recruited by Mariner Financial (ASX: MFI) to found and head its Third-Age Retirement Living division. His ethicalCapital business bought the intellectual property of that business late last year after Mariner ran into financial difficulties and began selling assets. Prior to joining Mariner, Mr Marinchek developed and managed institutional and private client investment products for Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch in London before moving to Australia where he launched Zurich Capital Markets Asia.
He said the business model of Aviiid Third-age Living (A3L) was unique in that it "creates a symbiotic relationship that aims to benefit all of its key stakeholders while sustainably addressing critical social infrastructure needs for the entire community".
"Aviiid believes that a radically different way of thinking is required to provide sustainable global third-age living solutions for the ageing population. Our aim is to revolutionise senior housing, lifestyle and care services by promoting freedom, dignity and choice for consumers while creating transparency, liquidity and risk management flexibility for investors."
He said in the long term A3L planned to manage investment funds, including superannuation, to directly benefit the greatest contributors to those funds, those in the 55 and above age group. Benefits would take the form of both investment returns - including pension plans - and the provision of high quality residential living choices that met both active lifestyle and care needs for 55-plus Australians. Most particularly, this would empower the ageing to continue living in their family homes as long as possible.
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