Dennis Doherty is looking for an underwriter for the private placement of his new investment fund. If all goes according to plan, he will raise $250 million from institutional investors in the first two weeks of June. Then he can go and blow it all on paintings.
"I can make a very good case based on raw data since the end of World War II that the market appreciates at about 12%," says Doherty from his ranch in New Mexico. "Impressionists always do much better than the average," he adds.
The fund won't be open to everyone. The minimum investment is $25 million, and the total sum invested has to be less than 1% of the investor's aggregate value. The money will be spent on art - "only extraordinary pieces can be acquired", promises Doherty, "and only by dead artists" - which will then be sold at a profit 10 to 14 years later.
Of course, art doesn't pay dividends. Indeed, it needs to be insured, stored and restored. "It has a negative carry," is Doherty's way of putting it. Even so, he's hoping that his fund will see returns above 20%.