Augusta Commercial Property Funds - UK & Germany

Tilly32

Re: http://www.augusta.ie/

Hello,

I was wondering, has anyone managed to get their money back from any of these "investments" yet ?

I have invested money in a few of their funds, both UK & German - some of which were supposed to mature well over a year ago and in the case of one of the UK Funds, all properties were sold a few months ago. However, to date I have not been given my money back.

The people working at Augusta appear to be good at giving excuses or evading my requests for my money but at this stage, I don't know if I trust them anymore it's gone on so long.

Augusta One for example (UK fund) was supposed to mature well over a year ago, they finally sold the second of two properties about 3-4 months ago I understand and while there is equity to be repaid to the investors, there I have still not been given my money.

Augusta Six is another example (this time a German fund), which was also due to mature well over a year ago but to date, the properties have not been sold. We were given a presentation at the start of 2013 where we were led to believe the property managers were working in our best interests and were doing some work to the properties to make them more valuable, but expected they would have the properties sold by approx mid year. It's now the end of October and nothing more, not even the courtesty of meeting with the investors in the fund.

Are the managers trying to suck additional management charges out of the fund for as long as possible and hence, delaying the sale of the properties perhaps ? :mad:

I'm so annoyed at this stage, I'm close to considering taking legal action against Augusta to be quite honest ....

Is anyone else in the same boat, or has anyone actually been repaid their money (granted, due to the losses on the value of properties it may not be the full amount originally invested) ?

Thank you.

gordongekko

got to say this could be a post by me. To this day im not sure why I did not invest in these funds. Maybe because im so over invested in property as it stands I did not go over board with these funds.

Tilly32

Count yourself very lucky ...

Another few weeks have passed, no communication from the directors and no rebate of monies in respect of the first fund, which apparently sold all of it's properties over 4 months ago.

Tilly32

Another two weeks gone and still no sign of us getting our money back from these people in respect of The First Augusta Fund.

Friendly word of warning to anyone ever even thinking of dealing with Augusta - avoid them like the plague !!!

Liam D Ferguson

If you haven't done so already, I'd suggest that you send them a registered letter detailing your previous attempts to access your investment and the responses you got. Ask them to outline in writing exactly why you haven't got your money back yet.

If you don't get a reply that satisfies you, you could try contacting one of the financial journalists at one of the national newspapers.

P.S. - I know nothing about this company or its directors or staff so I'm only responding to the details you have posted here.

Tilly32

Dear Mr Ferguson,

Thank you for your assistance. I have sent communications along the lines you have described but merely been "fobbed off".

While your comment about the financial journalists makes sense, I tried asking a few of the newspapers (via their websites / or email addresses) to consider doing an article on some of the property funds and how they have performed, not least because many of them gave these property funds very good exposure during the good times but to date, none have even demonstrated the courtesy of responding to me. Perhaps I will try again.

What I find incredible is that more people are not complaining about how Augusta are behaving. Surely I cannot be the only one ?

Philzer

Count me among another of those seriously burned by this lot whose only guarantees seem to apply yo their investment managers fees.

They have one of the greatest charming ladies ever to answer phones who always comes up with a wonderful cock-and-bull story as to why there is no return on investment a year after promised - First UK being my downfall as well.

Surely there are enough of us who can take some sort of action against these charlatans....

Tilly32 wrote: »

Re: http://www.augusta.ie/

Hello,

I was wondering, has anyone managed to get their money back from any of these "investments" yet ?

I have invested money in a few of their funds, both UK & German - some of which were supposed to mature well over a year ago and in the case of one of the UK Funds, all properties were sold a few months ago. However, to date I have not been given my money back.

The people working at Augusta appear to be good at giving excuses or evading my requests for my money but at this stage, I don't know if I trust them anymore it's gone on so long.

Augusta One for example (UK fund) was supposed to mature well over a year ago, they finally sold the second of two properties about 3-4 months ago I understand and while there is equity to be repaid to the investors, there I have still not been given my money.

Augusta Six is another example (this time a German fund), which was also due to mature well over a year ago but to date, the properties have not been sold. We were given a presentation at the start of 2013 where we were led to believe the property managers were working in our best interests and were doing some work to the properties to make them more valuable, but expected they would have the properties sold by approx mid year. It's now the end of October and nothing more, not even the courtesty of meeting with the investors in the fund.

Are the managers trying to suck additional management charges out of the fund for as long as possible and hence, delaying the sale of the properties perhaps ? :mad:

I'm so annoyed at this stage, I'm close to considering taking legal action against Augusta to be quite honest ....

Is anyone else in the same boat, or has anyone actually been repaid their money (granted, due to the losses on the value of properties it may not be the full amount originally invested) ?

Thank you.

Jerry Augusta

I am Jerry Purcell, one of the Directors on the board of Augusta. I’d like to address some of the issues raised here.

Augusta has, under the current board, invested in a portfolio of assets which has grown on aggregate in value through the recessionary years since they were acquired. The local market itself did not contribute significantly over the investment term to any value appreciation and thus active management was required to achieve capital growth.

The first UK Fund, referenced above, exited fully this week and proceeds have been distributed. It’s true that the liquidation of the fund incurred a time lag that was not in our direct control and I would be delighted to discuss the details of that with any investor.

The Fifth Augusta Syndicate is also exiting, with the first tranche of a very healthy positive return already made to investors. Other German syndicates in active exit are similarly delivering growth on original investment. These exits are being achieved as efficiently as the market allows.

Our funds are independently audited or verified and their properties are independently and regularly valued. Management fees are clearly explained at the outset and are never wavered from. We have committed to communicate regularly with investors and we do so at several points throughout the year. We have just completed a round of briefing seminars with investors in those funds at or near exit, to fully detail the progress to date and the path to completion. The Directors always make themselves personally available to speak with individual investors, whenever possible.

I fully understand that each individual client has his or her own circumstances, which may impact on the desire to see an exit sooner rather than later. I also understand where that expectation leads to a sense of frustration on a client’s part. Our focus is however to deliver the best possible return in slowly-improving market conditions. Optimum timing is required to secure the best outcome for all our investors.

I hope this post addresses some of the issues raised. Please get in touch directly if there are any further issues you want to clarify.

Zaph

Jerry Augusta, as you are posting on behalf of a company I have to ask you to refrain from posting any further until you have obtained a verified rep account from the guys in the office. They can be contacted at reps@boards.ie

Please note that further posts without having first obtained a verified rep account will result in a siteban.