Steven A. Cohen entered into a credit agreement last month with Morgan Stanley, adding to the number of banks providing the billionaire with loans backed by his art collection.
Under a security agreement dated Dec. 30, Cohen agreed to pledge unidentified pieces of artwork to Morgan Stanley Private Bank NA, according to a filing last month with the Connecticut Secretary of the State. The financing documents, reported today by the New York Times, don’t disclose the size of the credit line or the interest rate that Cohen will pay.
Cohen had previously entered into similar borrowing agreements with at least four other private banks, including those run by Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were two of the largest prime brokers to SAC Capital Advisors LP, Cohen’s former hedge fund management firm.
In order to settle federal allegations that he failed to supervise a staff member convicted of insider trading, Cohen returned the money he had managed for outside investors and converted SAC Capital into a family office, called Point72 Asset Management LP. Earlier this month, he reached an agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that could permit him to resume managing outside capital as soon as 2018.
Cohen, who has a fortune of about $12 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is a major collector of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art. Cohen’s art collection ranges from works by Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso to postwar masterpieces by Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock and Jasper Johns.
Morgan Stanley’s private wealth management division recently announced it was starting the Blue Rider Group to provide investment management and financial services to the international art community. The firm has been in the business of providing loans collateralized by art since early 2014.
James Wiggins, a spokesman for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, declined to comment on Cohen’s art loan. Cohen’s spokesman, Jonathan Gasthalter of Sard Verbinnen & Co., was not immediately available to comment.
