Wind Shift Capital Advisors
Success in Yacht Racing and Investment Management both depend on spotting the “Shifts” in the direction of the wind or changing market sentiment, as they occur, and reacting quickly to them.
Yacht racing is notoriously the most difficult sport in the world – requiring not just the knowledge and expertise to sail the boat fast and in the right direction, but the experience to read the wind and waves as they constantly change. Successful investment management is much the same – identifying winning strategies in a constantly evolving market place.
Just as markets are in constant motion, moment by moment the race course changes as “lifts” and “headers” generated by the constantly changing wind direction challenge yachtsmen to find the fastest route and best winds to the race marks. The winner is usually the sailor who reads the wind the best.
Wind Shift Capital provides its clients with the expertise and experience to weather the constantly changing shifts in markets, and to assist clients to safely navigate the rapidly changing tides, currents and hidden reefs of the evolving Alternative Capital Markets.
Wind Shift Capital offers advisory and investment services to both buy and sell side clients. We can assist clients identify, understand, market and analyse the multiple opportunities, risks and options for financing and investing in Alternative and Real Assets including deal structuring, investment objectives and sourcing investors. We also assist clients to value alternative assets in secondary markets to provide real time risk management inputs across private markets.
Wind Shift Capital Advisors team have been closely involved in financing private debt and equity, direct lending, hybrid and subordinated capital, secured lending and asset-backed securitisations since the inception of the markets following the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.
About
40 years investment banking market experience
Bill Blain is Principal of Wind Shift Capital Advisors
Bill has been a pioneer of the Alternatives sector in the institutional investment markets. He has been closely involved in the financing of renewable energy, sports, waste-to-energy, agri-funding, transatlantic fibre-optic cables, property and aviation finance projects. He has built up an unparalleled list of buy and sell side clients. His experience of what makes deals work and how to approach financing them is unrivalled.
Bill has nearly 40 years investment banking market experience – primarily in debt markets. He started in the middle office of Morgan Stanley, served time as a financial journalist for Euromoney and Bloomberg, before becoming a syndicate manager and then originator in the debt capital markets. He became head of the Financial Institutions Groups at Bear Stearns and then HSBC. In 2007 he left to found a leveraged-credit hedge fund, but the financial crisis of 2008 caused him to successfully redirect the team into “special-situations” broking illiquid bank debt and capital. That group evolved into a specialist real-asset financing business in the Alternative Markets: private debt and equity, hybrid capital, securitisation, direct lending, SME lending and convertibles.
Bill was recently appointed honorary professor at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh where he lectures on the post-graduate investment management course.
Following the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 Bill identified how the structure of corporate lending changed as a result of the regulatory response to the crisis. Banks were discouraged from financing risk, while non-bank financial institutions (investors) have increasingly stepped into risk financing. The rise of the Alternatives sector, including direct lending, private credit, private equity and a host of other investment/financing options that are available – creates enhanced returns, but also raises new risks.
Most investors are focused primarily on public financial assets – listed stocks and bonds. These are easy to trade on financial exchanges with strict transparency and regulatory oversight. They offer liquidity.
The Alternative Asset sector offers direct exposure to Real Assets in the real economy, often with higher returns than public markets. It is largely private and lacks transparency. The scope of the market is huge, encompassing every kind of asset from property to technology. It is definitionally less liquid – understanding how private deals work is more complex than simply looking at price charts and rating agency reports. It requires a considerable investment in due diligence, risk identification and mitigation, and an understanding of likely outcomes.
The future of alternatives will include making the market more liquid – requiring the ability to swiftly explain and value private deals in secondary markets. Wind Shift Capital Advisors objective is to help investors and issuers navigate the Alternatives Markets.
Alternative Asset Advisory Services
Retained capital advisory services
Alternative Fund Raising
Wind Shift works on a retained basis to construct a financial package and funding strategy for new transactions. This includes identifying the potential funding market, structuring options to achieve an optimal result, writing deal teasers and pitchbooks, setting up data-rooms, and manging the financing to the final close. Deals are directed towards the most effective financing constituencies.
Secondary Placements and Valuations
Wind Shift will seek to provide liquidity in secondary alternatives by finding new investors and providing reliable valuations – this requires a complete description of the opportunity, the risks, the current financing position relative to other secured and unsecured lenders, price discovery and placement.
Investor Identification
Raising institutional and retail funds for Alternative Asset Managers – finding investors to give investment mandates against specific Alternative Strategies.
General Advisory
Assessing market and technology risks on direct lending, private debt and private equity strategies. Specific deal advisory services including NED positions.
ESG and Sustainability
Investors can smell the difference between Greenwashing and practical ESG/Sustainability in a heartbeat – transparency and honesty in describing a deal’s ESG/S benefits is a critical deal component.
Conferences and Economic Outlook
Bill Blain is an accomplished conference presenter – able to offer clients and employees enlightening and entertaining descriptions of market opportunities and outlook.
Commentary
Highly regarded market commentator
Morning Porridge
In addition to his role as an alternatives banker Bill publishes a daily market commentary – The Morning Porridge – which has a readership of over 8000 subscribers. It is highly regarded. He is a regular commentator in the financial media, including Radio 4’s Today Programme, and regularly writes articles for leading financial magazines and periodicals.
Get in Touch
Drop me a line using the form, by email or on the phone. I look forward to hearing from you.
