An Art Investment and Retail Fund
An Art Investment and Retail Fund
The Art Trust is negotiating to purchase the assets and business of the Australian Art Investment Trust (AAI). AAI has built a collection of about 850 works created by about 115 artists. The works are all Australian contemporary, with most purchased direct from the artists.
AAI's collection is diverse in terms of artist, genre, medium and price bracket, and includes some of the leading names in contemporary Australian art such as Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd, John Coburn, Brian Dunlop, Frank Hodgkinson, Ken Johnson, Robert Juniper, John Olsen, Tim Storrier, Imants Tillers and Brett Whiteley.
The first purchase the Trust will make will be some or all of the collection of AAI.
Significantly, although the AAI investors were not assisted by the high calibre Committee which will be integral to the Trust operation, the art which they purchased has performed well, as seen by the price appreciation of a selection of its art assets below.
Additionally, AAI collection has already proved its success in the art rental market. As at 30th June 2007 of its 850 works of art, approximately 50% are rented to approximately 60 client companies in Sydney and Melbourne on terms ranging from between one to three years.
The Trust will build on these foundations. It will diversify from and add Australian art from earlier periods - works from the colonial, traditional and early modern periods - as well as Indigenous art, contemporary photography and contemporary decorative arts to this excellent existing contemporary collection.
* All works were valued by independent, authorised valuers, McWilliam and Associates in 2006.