Investing Abroad - But at Dev. stage

S

SNOOP101

Registered User
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26
Hi,
Anyone invested in a deveoplment abroad at the development stage ?
Ready2invest are marketing new developments in Croatia and Montenegro.
Basically you buy units in the company buying the land, so in theory you "should" make the same profits as the developer. You don't actually own a property (but you can roll your investment forward and buy off the plans)
Seems too good to be true.
Anyone got advice for me ?
 
Any person or company who is marketing or promoting in Ireland investments in shares, such as the scheme outlined above, must be appropriately licensed by IFSRA. Unless the above company are properly authorised by IFSRA, they may be breaking the law by offering share investments to the public. Potential investors would be well advise to research this issue fully before committing themselves to invest.
 
Sounds like a minefield of legal/tax/regulatory issues - How do you exercise control over the company? How do you stop the directors selling off your investment? How do you stop them offering building contracts at inflated prices to their buddies? Why would anyone take such a leap into the unknown?
 
I am also interested in investing in the Ready2Invest unit trusts for Montenegro property investments. I am interested in this fund because it is suggesting big profits based on developing properties from investing early in the development cycle (i.e. at the site purchase stage). I have received a prospectus from them and it appears above board, the fund details are as follows:

  • The fund is a Jersey Registered unit trust
  • Co-promoters are: Burlington associates, Equity Trust (Jersey) ltd, and Ready2Invest
  • Trustee, Manager, and registrar are Equity Trust (Jersey) ltd
  • Auditors: BDO Alto
  • Legal advisors: Carey Olsen.
  • The trustee and Manager have obtained permits from the Jersey Financial Services Commision to operate as functionaries within the island


I do not have a financial background and am taking the information supplied in the prospectus at face value.



I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has invested in this company, or who has any knowledge of this company.
 
bob100 said:
I am interested in this fund because it is suggesting big profits based on developing properties from investing early in the development cycle (i.e. at the site purchase stage).
Click to expand...
As a general rule for me, the bigger the 'suggested profits' from the promoters, the more suspicious I get.
 
I have invested in the above recently - I'm confident it is above board and properly administered - but each person has to form their own opinion - as regards potential risks - all investing has them - if you can't afford to lose the investment you shouldn't be investing - in saying that you obviously need to do some checks to satisfy yourself before investing your hard earned money
 
Happy Days,
Good to hear someone has already invested with them.
Did you pick one development or the synicated one that they are pushing ?
Are you happy with all the initial information they provided you with, and have you received all the doumentation and confirmation that you expected to receive ?
 
I am happy with the risks involved in investing in emerging markets, but just concerned with confirming that the product and companies involved are above board.



Did you do any checks to confirm the credentials of the companies involved or of the investment product.
 
I've taken a look at their partnes and they all seem to be very well known and reputable.

However I can't see where they are regulated by the FSRA in England after checking the site, were you able to confirm this ?

Have you received an update yet ?

Finally did you opt for a single development or the syndicate option that they seem to be pushing ?
 
sorry snoop for not replying - so far I have no update on progress so I can't say to be honest. I know one think there was a hell of a lot of forms to be filled out and to be frank a lot of to and fro before it was all sorted


I invested in the Bulgaria specific fund - cant think of the name now off hand - begons with "F" I think

Actually thinking of going with the MONTENEGRO FUND at the moment - only minimum amount as I think the idea behind it is great but obviously dont want all my eggs in one basket incase anything goes wrong

As I see it the company is reputable, and is run by the couple who had "bear factory" - they sold that and got into this.
 
For what it's worth, and I am not making any specific recommendations or otherwise about the fund or funds being discussed in this thread, a property fund, set up as a Jersey domiciled Unit Trust, is quite a common structure for an investment fund of this type.

These type of funds would be domiciled in Jersey to take advantage of Gross Roll up on Capital Gains and the favorable VAT regulations
As background info - According to the post by bob100 the Manager, Trustee and Registrar is Equity Trust Jersey - is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission and their current status can be checked online. This company would not be regulated by the FSA as it's a Jersey company.

The Auditors [broken link removed] are generally well respected within the industry and are part of the BDO group (the equivelant in Ireland is BDO Simpson Xavier)

Legal advisors Carey Olsen are well known and respected within the Jersey and Guernsey markets

The risk then, from an investors point of view, is not whether the investment vehicle is unregulated or unauthorised, but rather the investment strategy of the manager and his / her ability to make the correct decisions with the money within the fund. An investor needs to look at the experience and knowledge of the fund / investment manager in the specific area (ie Eastern European property).

In addition the investor needs to look at fees associated with the fund (entry / exit fees, manager performance fees, annual management fees etc) and, assuming that this is a close ended unit trust, what the exit strategy of the fund itself is and what restrictions, if any, apply to redemptions from the fund.
 
I must say, I really thought this was a great idea, but as it is not regulated in ireland it is very difficult to get information from them. I have faxed info and talked to the company on a few occasions. Most are the funds are now closed and/or have been revalued at higher prices so a lot of the 'gain' has already been absorbed by the people who got in early.

Seems like an excellent idea in theory.
 
Did anyone invest with R2I and make a profit ?. From threads on Singing Pig & Streetwise their projects appear to be having all sorts of problems.
 
In regards to their Croatian info, I'd say be very very careful. Not only are their "details" false and misleading, but also extremely out of date. Croatia will NOT be in the EU in 2009, and besides their development here seems to have taken a bath.
 
SNOOP101 said:
I've taken a look at their partnes and they all seem to be very well known and reputable.

?
Click to expand...
I do not think that this means a lot.
I can set up a project and go to a large and reputable company for tax advise and list them as my tax advisers on the prospectus.
It does not mean that they even approve of what I am doing.
 
Ready2Invest

Dear Sir/Madam,

If you have lost your money investing with Ready2invest, CPC Worldwide can help you.
CPC WORLDWIDE LTD, a division of CPC Holding Group registered at company house in Cardiff under number 7697014.

CPC Legal, one of our main areas of expertise offers a range of services to clients in difficulty abroad.

It's our job to solve problems abroad and there are a lot of members on here that we can help.

If you have invested your money with Ready2Invest in developments such as Los Cerros de Turre in Morocco, or anywhere else with this Company, and you have lost your money, we can help you recover it.

CPC Worldwide Ltd is bringing a civil fraud claim in the U.K Courts against the directors of Ready2Invest.

If anyone wants to ring us you're more than welcome to just have a chat because I can imagine a lot of people are really upset. 0191 386 2487.



I truly hope we can help some of you.
The CPC Worldwide Team
 
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