Bridgeport Asset Management: Views from the Bridge

The Bridgeport senior investment team sat down together to recap 2023 – a year in the market with plenty of peaks and valleys. Hear the team's thoughts on what they learned, along with a look into 2024 and their picks for SuperBowl LVIII (hint: the guys did pretty well!).

There is a lot involved with planning a business succession as well as planning for how your life is going to look after a transaction. Hosted by Bridgeport Asset Management’s Senior Vice President, Mark Yestrau, this panel will give you an idea of some of the opportunities, challenges and issues involved with planning a business transition.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business recently completed a study which indicated that over $2 trillion of business assets are expected to change hands within the next decade and that ¾ of small business owners are planning to exit their business during that time period. Unsurprisingly, retirement was the top reason for planning a transition, cited by 75% of business owners. Notably however, only 10% of business owners say they have a formal business succession plan in place.

This gets us to why we are here today – there is a lot involved with planning a business succession as well as planning for how your life is going to look after a transaction. Hopefully, this panel gives our viewers today an idea of some of the opportunities, challenges and issues involved with planning a business transition.

Founded in 2008, 17Capital is a London, UK-based investment firm that provides financing to the private equity industry through preferred equity and net asset value-based lending structures. 17Capital manages $11 billion of assets and has over 60 employees worldwide. Bridgeport’s Alternative Income Fund and Private Equity Opportunities Fund are invested in 17Capital’s funds, which aim to generate a stable stream of income from their private equity portfolio investments, while maintaining strong downside protection through senior priority and high asset coverage.
In this interview, Bridgeport Asset Management's President & Chief Investment Officer, John Fisher, speaks with 17Capital's Managing Partner, Pierre-Antoine de Selancy, about the firm's investment strategy.

Earlier this month, Bridgeport’s senior investment management team, John Fisher, Ian Hardacre and Boyan Lepoev, sat down to talk about how Bridgeport's equity, liquid fixed income and private asset pooled funds performed in 2022 and their market outlook for 2023.

Despite the market challenges we’ve experienced so far in 2023, the team remains positive about the collection of cash-flow generating investments in our portfolios.

Ian Hardacre, Bridgeport’s Head, Publicly Traded Equities & Portfolio Manager gives a market update on the Bridgeport Small & Mid Cap Equity Fund's strategy, holdings and recent purchases.

Established in 2014, ITE Management is an alternative investment firm with a focus on transportation-related real-asset leasing strategies including rail cars. Through Bridgeport Alternative Income Fund, Bridgeport invests in ITE’s Rail Fund which owns over 50,000 railcars that are leased out to hundreds of industrial customers across North America, generating steady investment returns.