MERGER-ARBITRAGE

Opening Your Account

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Opening a Separately Managed Account for Constantia Capital to manage is a three-step process. Our preferred custodian is Interactive Brokers due to their low trading and ease of use.

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Follow these 3 steps:

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1. Submit your contact information on our Contact page. We will then reach out to you to set the new account creation process in motion.
    

2. Fund the account.
    

3. Sign the Constantia Capital Investment Management Agreement for the Merger-Arbitrage strategy.

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Accounts can be opened under individual, joint, trust, or corporate ownership.

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Account Minimums

The account minimum is $110,000 since we use Interactive Brokers' "Portfolio Margin" option. This option allows for maximum flexibility in managing your account.

The advantages of owning your own account

• You own the account—therefore only you can withdraw funds.

• SIPC insured. (Securities Investor Protection Corporation)

• Trading authority can be terminated by you at any time, without notice.

• No lockups. Since you own the account, and the underlying investments are liquid equities that trade on public exchanges, cash is available on a "T+2" basis.

 

Low-margin rates, trading on foreign exchanges

• The primary advantage of opening your Merger-Arbitrage account at Interactive Brokers is their low margin rates and relatively high interest rates paid on cash balances. As of May 2023, Interactive Brokers pays 4.58% on US Dollar cash balances in excess of $10,000. Similarly, their Margin interest rates are significantly lower than most other reputable discount brokers.

• Since we take advantage of low margin rates to enhance returns, low rates are an integral component of the Merger-Arbitrage strategy’s success.

• Foreign domiciled deals are typically between 15% and 30% of the Merger-Arbitrage portfolio and Interactive Brokers’ commission structure and trading platform is far superior to other online brokers.

Low commissions

• Interactive Brokers charges extremely low commissions with a tiered structure charging only $0.0035 per share below a certain threshold, and only $0.002 above that threshold. (We've found that paying low commissions is better than the zero commission option since our orders get "best execution" as opposed to being sold to a high frequency trading fund  or "payment for order flow".) 

• We trade all of our client accounts together, and always in the same direction, therefore the commission charged to each client is allocated proportionally to each client, further reducing transaction costs and increasing net returns.

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