Finance Monthly Global Awards 2016 Edition

Finance Monthly Global Awards 2016 24 www.finance-monthly.com LUXEMBOURG FUND MANAGEMENT FIRM OF THE YEAR Winner: Personal Bio My name is Jose C. Garcia, I am the CEO of Carlisle Management Company. I graduated with honors from Old Dominion University with degrees in Finance and Economics, with a concentration in Econometrics, and then went on to earn my Masters of Business Administration fromGeorge Mason University. After my MBA, I wanted to stay within the Washington DC area so I began looking at different options within the local investment banking community which is where I first encountered the life settlement industry. The unique quantitative nature of the industry paired with its practically untapped potential managed to peak my interest. Here I found an asset class, built on the foundation and valuation methodologies of the Life Insurance Industry, with a minimally correlated investment performance in a market that was still inefficient, it was like a dream come true. I began working for a small DC firm that specialized in the origination and structure side of the business. Over the next few years, I helped grow the company to an industry leading position all the while collecting an amazing set of relationships within the space. Fast forward nearly 20 years and I’ve overseen the purchase of more than five billion dollars in life settlements and helped a myriad of companies and institutional investors build custom tailored investment products that meet their specific needs. By 2008, the financial crisis was underway, and the lessons being learned meant that all asset classes, ours included, were under enormous pressure to improve the transparency and security of our products and structures. It became apparent that if you wanted to retain the confidence of your clients and continue to grow a healthy business, one needed to do so in the most reputable and well regulated way possible. After looking around the world for the most appropriate places to conduct business, we discovered Luxembourg and knew that this would be right place for us. Luxembourg’s stringent regulatory environment and plethora of top level service providers meant that we could build an organization with a reputation for excellence, both in product development and investor services. Since we settled in Luxembourg, Carlisle has kept very busy designing, developing, implementing and managing investment vehicles within the life settlements space for our global base of clients. As CEO of Carlisle, my two primary responsibilities are to oversee the asset acquisition process and to act as the public face of the company by maintaining relationships with our investors. Firm Profile Carlisle Management Company SCA is a full-service, regulated investment management firm that specializes in alternative asset classes and has particular depth in life settlements. Carlisle is based in Luxembourg, where it established its headquarters and fund domicile to take advantage of the country’s stringent and well-regulated financial systems in the alternative asset space. The firm emphasizes a comprehensive full-service management approach, and as a result it performs a wide range of tasks over the entire life cycle of its investment vehicles. The Carlisle team is comprised of accomplished senior executives who collectively bring more than six decades of investment experience across multiple industry sectors to the management of the firm’s investment products and strategy. Carlisle has experienced exponential growth since its inception, and has garnered a reputation as a pioneer and market leader for investment solutions in the life settlements space. Carlisle’s strategy involves delivering a razor-sharp focus on the asset classes in which it invests, and the application of this focus on life settlements has been a significant factor in its success. After years of assisting institutional clients in the development, structuring, and management of captive investment vehicles, Carlisle’s principals realized that the lack of viable investment products in the space afforded them an excellent opportunity to fill the void for this minimally correlated asset class. From this realization was born their flagship investment vehicle, the Luxembourg Life Fund FCP SIF: Long Term Growth Fund. In the years since that fund’s introduction, the life settlement industry has grown at a phenomenal rate and Carlisle has been well positioned to help its investors take full advantage of these gains through its unwavering attention and expertise across all areas of the industry. Carlisle puts significant emphasis on designing investment products that meet the demanding needs of its diverse and discerning investor base consisting of institutional investors, financial intermediaries, and high net worth individuals. As an example, in order to provide the increased transparency that many of its investors require the firm offers open-ended funds using mark-to-market valuation systems involving trusted independent service providers at key steps of the process, thus creating that necessary transparency. Carlisle also works to ensure their products are tax-optimized, have strong yet efficient organizational structures, and include all necessary regulatory oversight. Contact Details Jose C. Garcia, CEO Carlisle Management Company, SCA 9 Rue Sainte Zithe, 1st Floor Luxembourg City, L-2763 Luxembourg Tel: +352 268 453 59 Fax: +352 268 453 76 Email: info@cmclux.com Web: www.luxlf.com | www.cmclux.com