Lionheart Capital International

Lionheart Capital International (“LCI”) is a financial advisory firm specializing in the structuring of unique alternatives for hedging investment risk. Through the acquisition of high investment grade (AAA equivalent) Life Settlement Insurance Policies (“LSPs”), LCI can provide investors with a valuable tool in mitigating the risks associated with raising capital for seed stage, development stage and other higher risk investment ventures. In addition, LCI provides access to several different investment vehicles utilizing LSPs to generate superior ROI relative to their investment grade risk.

Life Settlements are definitive financial instruments with great surety; there is the certainty of a payment event, a secure expectation of payment from an “A+” rated insurance company, and a clear expectation of the payment amount. Life settlements are analogous to U.S. treasury zero-coupon bond instruments, which have the least amount of risk (high investment grade), but with the potential to generate much higher returns than is normally available, over a shorter period of time. Also, there is no tax impact on life settlements until maturity (the death of the insured). In addition to using these instruments to mitigate investment risk, life settlements can also represent a strong stand-alone investment opportunity for qualified institutional clients or private clients.

Definition of a Life Settlement

When a Life Insurance Policy of an elderly person is sold to an investor it is called a Life Settlement
The policy is purchased at a deep discount from it’s “face value” (its death benefit or maturity value)
The discounted price is, in part, driven by the insured’s life expectancy, which is determined by Life insurance industry actuaries
Investor owns the policy and becomes the sole beneficiary
Investor is responsible for paying the annual premiums
Investor receives the insured’s death benefit at maturity

With life insurance held by people over 65 estimated to exceed $1 Trillion USD in North America alone today, it is clear that life insurance settlements is a market with large growth potential, one deserving of investor consideration. According to a 2005 Bernstein Research report, it is estimated that the “secondary market for life insurance will grow more than tenfold to $160 billion over the next several years.”

Investing in life settlements has gained attention from many high-profile proponents. Warren Buffett has invested several billion dollars of Berkshire Hathaway insurance subsidiary investment capital and Bill Gates has invested over half a billion dollars of his own personal wealth in this low tech investment vehicle. Many Hedge Funds, Pension Funds and various major banks are also large investors and numerous media sources including The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine and The Economist have given this industry serious attention.