We hope you have been staying cool amidst the heat waves. Our investment outlook for the balance of 2024 and a review of markets in the 2nd quarter of 2024 (2Q24) is below. +15.3% total returns year-to-date (YTD) in 2024 for U.S. large cap equities nearly matched the first half of last year, S&P 500 earnings growth consensus forecasts are +10.6% for 2024 and +14.1% for 2025, the unemployment rate of 4.0% remains near the 1-yr low of 3.6%, and the U.S. economy continues to outperform expectations. Unsurprisingly, the highest interest rates in over 15 years are causing problems for heavily indebted businesses and households...(read more). ​

We wish all our clients and friends a splendid spring. Below we provide our investment outlook for the balance of 2024 and a review of markets in the 1st quarter of 2024 (1Q24).

​We were especially pleased by +10.6% total returns in 1Q24 for U.S. large cap equities. S&P 500 earnings growth consensus forecasts are +9.7% for 2024 and +13.6% for 2025, and unemployment rates of 3.9% remain near historic lows. The highest interest rates in over 15 years should bode well for future fixed income total returns, with investment grade municipal bonds paying up to 4.6% tax-exempt yields...(read more).

Salem Partners, LLC (“Salem”) is pleased to announce the closing of a $35 million horizontal construction loan on January 11th, 2024. The loan was structured between Salem’s client, Eisenhower Property Group (“EPG” or the “Company”) and a lending affiliate of two institutional investors (structured between a Los Angeles based real estate private equity investor and one of the largest and most prominent hedge funds in the world).

EPG hired Salem on an exclusive basis to structure, source and close credit financing for the purpose of refinancing existing debt and provide capital for horizontal land development at EPG’s Two Rivers East master planned community in Northeastern Tampa Bay, Florida...(read more). ​

We wish all our clients and friends a wonderful winter. Below we provide our investment outlook for 2024 and a review of markets in the 4th quarter of 2023. 

We were especially pleased by +26.3% total returns in 2023 for U.S. large cap equities. The highest bond yields in over 15 years bode well for future fixed income total returns, with investment grade municipal bonds paying out 6.5% to 8.5% taxable equivalent yields. +11.1% and +12.5% EPS growth is forecasted for 2024 and 2025, respectively, after S&P 500 earnings contracted in 4Q22, 1Q23, and 2Q23 i.e., the 2023 “corporate earnings recession” is behind us...(read more). 

We wish all our clients and friends a safe and more peaceful autumn. Below we provide our investment outlook and a review of markets in the 3rd quarter of 2023.

​+13% equity returns year-to-date for U.S. large caps were driven by improving earnings prospects for the highly profitable technology sector, which constitutes over 27% of the stock market’s capitalization. The highest bond yields in over 15 years bode well for future fixed income total returns, with investment grade municipal bonds paying out 8% to 10% taxable equivalent yields. Forward earnings estimates have stopped falling and are now rising, with +11% and +12% EPS growth forecasted for 2024 and 2025...(read more). 

We wish all our clients and friends a wonderful summer! Below we provide our outlook for the balance of the year and a review of markets in the 2nd quarter of 2023. 

GOOD NEWS: We are pleased to report very positive equities returns and the most attractive investment grade bond yields in over 15 years. Inflation fell to 3% in June 2023 after peaking at 9% in June 2022, and forward earnings estimates have stopped falling and are now rising. It’s too early for the Fed to declare “mission accomplished” on inflation, but it’s not too early for investors to anticipate it...(read more). 

Salem Partners, LLC (“Salem”) is pleased to announce the successful closing of a $50 million corporate and construction loan on July 10th, 2022. The loan was structured between Salem’s client, Eisenhower Property Group (“EPG” or the “Company”) and a private credit fund that has a specialty and focus on residential land investing.
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EPG hired Salem on an exclusive basis to structure, source and close a bespoke credit financing that gave a lender significant collateral and security, while yielding EPG the proceeds and flexibility it needed to effectively run its business. Proceeds of the loan were used to refinance existing debt and provide capital for horizontal land development across various parcels within the Company’s Two Rivers master planned community in Northeastern Tampa Bay, Florida...(read more)

We wish all our clients and friends a joyous spring! Below we provide a review of markets in the 1st quarter of 2023, which delivered positive and above average investment returns for equities and fixed income, plus our outlook for the balance of the year. 

FOMC “dot plot” projections signaled the Fed will hike rates for the last time on May 3rd, and then pause and leave the Fed Funds Rate at 5.25% for an “extended period of time,” and then begin cutting Fed Funds Rates in early 2024. The rule of thumb is that Fed Funds Rates should be 1% higher than inflation rates to force inflation down...(read more).

 CRH plc (NYSE: CRH), a Fortune 500 company and global leader in the building materials industry, has acquired Inwesco Incorporated ("Inwesco"). Inwesco designs, engineers, and manufactures steel, aluminum, and stainless-steel products for overhead and underground distribution systems in the electrical, telecommunications and wastewater industries. The transaction enables meaningful synergies and new opportunities for both companies in the rapidly growing infrastructure products market. 

Owned by the Morris Family since 1999, Inwesco has grown its engineering capabilities and product offering as well as geographic presence by adding locations in Southern California and Texas. Inwesco and the Morris Family desired a partner who could provide resources for future growth, a stable foundation for employees and liquidity for shareholders. Salem Partners built a relationship with Dave and Lisa Morris over multiple years and delivered the ideal transaction to accomplish these goals...(read more). 

Salem Partners, LLC (“Salem”) is pleased to announce a successful closing of a $130 million acquisition of a brand new 1.1 million square foot, mission critical industrial and distribution facility (the “Property”) 100% leased to Ford Motor Company (“Ford”) in suburban Detroit, MI.

The acquisition closed in April of 2022 between a net-lease focused REIT and the original Property developer. The Property serves as one of the main logistics nodes for Ford’s parts division for North America and was a build-to-suit development by the original developer...(read more)​​

OncoNano Medicine, Inc. today announced positive results from a preclinical study of ONM-501, a novel dual-activating polyvalent STING (STimulator of INterferon Genes) agonist for immuno-oncology applications. The data, presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2022, demonstrate the efficacy and tolerability of ONM-501 in animal models for multiple tumor types. ONM-501 is formulated with the core OncoNano OMNITM polymer technology consisting of STING-activating pH-sensitive micelles loaded with an endogenous agonist...(read more). 

OncoNano Medicine, Inc. today announced positive results from the company’s ON-BOARD™ pH-sensitive nanoparticle platform. The data, presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2022, demonstrate that the clinically validated ON-BOARD™ platform has the potential to be a universal tool for tumor-specific activation and the efficient delivery of proteins for an improved therapeutic index.

“Our ON-BOARD micelle platform is designed to efficiently carry a broad range of payloads to the tumor microenvironment. Capable of being tuned to deliver either small molecules or biologics, the ON-BOARD platform has the potential to be a universal tool for targeted delivery of therapeutics to a range of cancers,” said Tian Zhao, Ph.D., Vice President of Research & Development for OncoNano Medicine, Inc...(read more). 

Salem Partners, LLC (“Salem”) is pleased to announce a successful closing of a $50 million programmatic equity joint venture on November 19th, 2021. The joint venture was structured between Salem’s client, Guardian Yards (“Guardian” or the “Company”) and a West Coast / Los Angeles based private equity firm focused on opportunistic commercial real estate investing. The goal of the joint venture will be to acquire land sites to develop high-performing Industrial Outdoor Storage (“IOS”) | Industrial Service Facilities (“ISF”) real estate properties across the major California markets....(read more)​

​OncoNano Medicine, Inc. today announced a poster presentation at The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Conference on Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy to be held on October 5-6, 2021. 

The development of ONM-501 represents a new concept in STING activation that could overcome the challenges observed with earlier STING agonists. ONM-501 encapsulates the endogenous STING agonist cGAMP with a proprietary micelle that induces polyvalent STING condensation and prolongs innate immune activation to offer dual ‘burst’ and ‘sustained’ STING activation for a potential highly effective immunotherapy against cancer...(read more)​

OncoNano Medicine, Inc. today announced an oral presentation at The World Molecular Imaging Congress 2021 (WMIC) to be held virtually on October 6-9, 2021.

​OncoNano Medicine is developing a new class of products that utilize principles of molecular cooperativity in their design to exploit pH as a biomarker to diagnose and treat cancer with high specificity. Our product candidates and interventions are designed to help patients across the continuum of cancer care and include solid tumor therapeutics, agents for real-time image-guided surgery and a platform of immune-oncology therapeutics that activate and guide the body’s immune system to target cancer...(read more)

​Salem Partners, LLC (“Salem”) is pleased to announce a successful closed transaction on August 25th, 2021, on behalf of its client, Delta Financial, LLC (“Delta”).

Delta hired Salem to find an institutional capital partner for its equipment leasing originations, servicing, and asset management business.
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Led and founded by two equipment leasing experts (Dave Riggleman and Adam Woodard), Delta is a specialty finance / equipment leasing company that provides financial solutions to Fortune 500 companies looking to lease mission critical equipment such as forklifts, IT infrastructure (servers, etc.), medical equipment and other corporate office, logistics, and manufacturing equipment...(read more). 

Salem Partners, LLC (“Salem”) is pleased to announce a successful, $65 million loan financing that closed on July 23rd, 2021, on behalf of a best-in-class, private equity owned, residential platform (the “Company”).

The Company hired Salem to structure a bespoke credit product against a portfolio of built, under construction, and to-be-built multifamily assets (the “Portfolio”) which will provide the Company with the necessary capital to allocate to its ground-up development pipeline...(read more)

Onconano Medicine Inc. raised around $50 million in series B financing to accelerate the momentum of its technology designed to diagnose and treat cancer with high specificity. The biotech company’s nanosensor works by reacting to low pH and illuminates cancer like a lightbulb, distinguishing cancerous tissue from healthy tissue. This is intended to make it easier for surgeons to remove cancer cells while leaving healthy, functional tissue intact.

The company’s product candidates exploit pH as a biomarker to help patients across the continuum of cancer care, from diagnosis to treatment, and have been gaining momentum in recent years. They include solid tumor therapeutics, agents for real-time image-guided surgery, as well as a platform of product candidates that activate and guide the immune system to target cancer...(read more)

OncoNano Medicine, Inc. today announced the raise of an approximate $50 million Series B financing led by the healthcare investment team at Advantech Capital, a China-based cross-border institutional investment fund. Proceeds of the financing will be used, in part, to support the Phase 3 clinical trials in the U.S. and Europe for pegsitacianine, an innovative real-time imaging agent used in intraoperative surgical resection of solid tumors, and accelerate the advancement of the company’s first therapeutic development program, ONM-501, a novel immune-therapeutic formulated with the company’s core delivery technology...(read more)

Femasys Inc., a biomedical company focused on transforming women's healthcare by developing novel solutions and next-generation advancements providing significant clinical impact to address severely underserved areas, today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 2,650,000 shares of its common stock at a public price of $13.00 per share. The gross proceeds to Femasys from the offering, before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses, are expected to be $34.45 million. All of the shares are being offered by Femasys. In addition, Femasys has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase an additional 397,500 shares of its common stock at the initial public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions.

The shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market on June 18, 2021, under the ticker symbol “FEMY.” The offering is expected to close on June 22, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions...(read more)

Salem Partners, LLC (“Salem”) is pleased to announce a successful transaction closing on May 12th , 2021, on behalf of its client, Rainmaker Holdings Group LLC (“Rainmaker”).

​Rainmaker hired Salem to find an institutional capital partner for its growing professional athlete / sports lending business. Rainmaker is a specialty finance company that invests structured debt and equity capital in the media & entertainment, real estate, and sports sectors. Rainmaker was looking to significantly grow their lending business to NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL athletes through a partnership with...(read more)