Agence France Presse does did a follow up story on the Annie Leibovitz and ends up calling that called Ian Peck’s Art Capital Group “predators.” But the story offered no evidence that ACG’s business practices are different from their competitors in the art loan space–except that ACG seems to get itself into more lawsuits.
Update: AFP has taken the quote off their story
“I think Annie got involved with people I would call more predatorial in their lending practices than others,” said an Art Capital competitor, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. […]
There’s a lot of leverage in the market and part of the reason is that people have already taken out their mortgage on their home, so they look at other asset classes — what’s on their walls — as something they can use,” Meghan Carleton, a banker at Art Finance Partners, told AFP. […]
Art Finance, which keeps the properties housed at its warehouse, provides loans of at least one million dollars and charges interest rates ranging between 12 and 18 percent. Each loan is issued for up to 50 percent of the work’s value. Since October, Carleton said, the company has seen a 50-percent increase in its business, as both new customers and old ones with fresh works flocked to her offices with art, but also collectibles and antiques.
