Basin Zikanov Capital Management, often abbreviated as BZCM, is a conglomerate founded in 2001 by entrepreneurs Gary Basin and Archibald Zakanav. The headquarters are located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States with a secondary office in Durham, North Carolina. Originally formed as a financial trading and private wealth management firm, BZCM quickly grew as it attracted affluent Russian and Scandinavian investors interested in their low-key but high risk approach to seeking alpha. Its current focuses include, but are not limited to, utility trade, aviation manufacturing, and the financial markets.

Going off of sparse media releases and insider information from suspected shareholders, BZCM's total AUM are rumored to be in the range of $160 Million to $5.8 Billion; with an estimated $62 Billion in Assets (estimated using market values of various BZCM firms' close competitors), BZCM is leveraged quite highly. (Note: This leveraging has apparently decreased since early 2003 after the sale of a large tract of Iraqi oil drilling rights to undisclosed buyers) .

It is currently privately held with the holding company's equity split between the two founders.

Current Ventures

Military Technology - BZCM is currently developing military applications for its research on bioluminescence and insect flight. It is currently under contract with the Israeli army as well as that of the Democratic Republic of Congo. On April 11, 2007 David Piwnica-Worms, M.D., Director of the Molecular Imaging Center at Washington University School of Medicine, spoke at Duke University to a group that included BZCM partners Archibald Zakanav and John Brockart. He spoke about spectral deconvolution of multi-color bioluminescent reporters for imaging signal transduction pathways in real-time. Genetically-encoded imaging reporters introduced into cells and transgenic animals enable noninvasive, longitudinal studies of dynamic biological processes in intact cells and living animals. Common reporters are firefly luciferase and colored variants with enhanced spectral properties optimized for bioluminescence imaging in vivo. When cloned into promoter/enhancer sequences or engineered into fusion proteins, imaging reporters enable fundamental processes such as transcriptional regulation, signal transduction cascades, protein-protein interactions, oncogenic transformation, cell trafficking and targeted drug action to be temporally and spatially registered in vivo. Furthermore, images composed of bioluminescence signals from multiple luciferases can be deconvoluted into their component signals enabling imaging of several nodes in a pathway simultaneously<ref> http://calendar.duke.edu/calendar.nsf/EventID/6ZBRH3 </ref>. The partners were quite impressed and are said to be increasing their position in bioluminescence opportunities.

Labor Cost Arbitrage - BZCM has developed proprietary models to assist the analysis of opportunity cost and expected value inherit to outsourcing of labor to third world locales. BZCM played a major consultant role in the development of General Motors production line operations in Mexico.

Proprietary Options Trading - BZCM participates in a wide variety of options markets through its proprietary trading operations, including exotic agriculture and debenture swaps where they have been successful in abrogating path-dependent pricing assumptions through the discrete turnover of diametric-outliers in their long gamma exposure.

Scrotum Follicle Arrangement - BZCM is currently undergoing extensive research in an effort to better innovate in the field of scrotum follicle arrangement. With literally millions of hair follicles being either planted, removed, or weaved throughout the scrotum, an effect so incredible develops that it cannot even be explained. It must be seen in person. A volunteer by the name of Selwan Barbat has had the hair on his scrotum shaped and arranged into what looks like the Mona Lisa.

Private Equity Department

BZCM launched its newest enterprise, Private Equity, in early 2007, tapping John M. Brockart (no relation to the noted Stanford primatology Ph.D.) to head the new endeavor. The private equity fund has opened up to accept capital from family members and close friends. It is rumored that they may extend this to all qualified investors in the future - the PR department had no comment when inquired. Several deals are already rumored in the works, including but not limited to:

Merkin Manufacturing - After decades of stagnation, BZCM sees the merkin industry as poised for strong growth in the coming years. Several Merkin manufacturing and distribution firms are rumored to be in negotiations with BZCM for full take-over as well as large capital placements. BZCM's interest in the merkin markets is no surprise to industry insiders, as Mr. Brockart's past involvements with the industry (see also Shetland Merkin Debacle of 1986) have caused considerable consolidation and revolutionized the production cycle of merkin technology.

Criticisms

Local media in the various overseas areas where BZCM operates have been known to criticize them for their business's practices as well as their attitude towards regulation (mostly legislative). Indeed, legal filings indicate that the firm has retained legal counsel from a cryptic entity referred to only by the initials JA, who is believed to be affiliated with the University of North Carolina School of Law and a rising star in the legal scene, in response to current lawsuits and legal proceedings levied against the firm in several countries (including Iceland and Guatemala) as a result of the nature of many BZCM owned companies operating on the cusp of legality.

References

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