Deliverable commodity investment vehicle
AssigneeMerk Investments LLC
InventorAlexander Merk
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A supply of a commodity is owned by an investment vehicle. A sponsor of the investment vehicle receives a delivery application. A custodian stores the supply of the commodity as a collection of first physical units. A commodity dealer specializing in trading the commodity agrees to conduct trades with the sponsor to convert a first quantity of the supply for a second quantity of the commodity. A broker dealer trades shares of the investment vehicle. The delivery application is provided by a shareholder, and specifies a physical format for the second quantity of the commodity.
Claims21
1-20. (canceled)
A method for sponsoring a deliverable commodity investment trust comprising:
- arranging for the creation of the deliverable commodity investment trust such that the deliverable commodity investment trust:
- (i) holds a commodity and (ii) issues shares representing a unit of fractional undivided interest in the deliverable commodity investment trust;
- receiving a delivery application from the trust investor that includes:
- (i) a desired specification for a physical delivery of the commodity and (ii) a number of the shares to be surrendered in exchange for the physical delivery of the commodity;
- requesting a trust custodian to engage in an over-the-counter transaction with a dealer to convert the commodity into the desired specification for the physical delivery of the commodity;
- and
- arranging for the physical delivery of the commodity from the dealer to the trust investor.
A method for sponsoring a deliverable commodity investment trust comprising:
- arranging for the creation of the deliverable commodity investment trust such that the deliverable commodity investment trust:
- (i) holds a commodity and (ii) issues shares representing an interest in the deliverable commodity investment trust;
- maintaining a website for the trust that includes a calculator for estimating a physical quantity of the commodity and an estimated quantity of cash that can be exchanged for a number of shares;
- receiving a delivery application from a trust investor that includes:
- (i) a desired specification for a delivered physical quantity of the commodity and (ii) the number of shares as calculated by the calculator;
- and
- pre-approving the delivery application before the delivery application is sent to a trustee of the deliverable commodity investment trust to conduct an exchange of the number of shares for the delivered physical quantity of the commodity and a final quantity of cash.
A deliverable commodity trust administration system comprising:
- a trust custodian to store a commodity physically on behalf of the trust;
- a trustee to coordinate the exchange of a physical quantity of the commodity for shares of the trust;
- a trust sponsor to receive and pre-approve a delivery application specifying:
- (i) a desired specification for the physical quantity of the commodity and (ii) a number of shares to be exchanged for the physical quantity of the commodity;
- and
- a dealer to engage in an over-the-counter trade with the trust custodian, the over-the-counter trades converting the commodity into the desired specification.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.