Asset management
“This ‘dream team’ has wide-ranging expertise that includes regulatory law and alternative investments, as well as tax and litigation. It acts for the larger asset management firms on cutting-edge issues.”
Chambers Europe, 2011
Our asset management practice consists of lawyers practising in Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, the Middle East and Africa. We provide advice on all aspects of asset managers’ legal requirements from the formation of new funds to merger and acquisition transactions in the sector. We are able to draw upon the expertise of our corporate, banking and finance, funds, tax, pensions, antitrust, competition and regulatory, asset finance, employment and labour, real estate and environmental specialists and from world-class litigators.
We act on some of the largest deals in the market and our clients include many of the leading and most active global asset management businesses as well as banks and service providers to the sector. Our asset management group is a key part of the firm’s financial institutions practice.
Regarded by market commentators as a leading specialist for financial services regulation and investment funds work, our team handles all aspects of the industry. We advise on the specific needs of your business and have invested heavily in producing a range of bespoke products to assist you in your day to day asset management issues; our AIFMD expert resource provides a unique service to clients conducting AIFMD projects, setting out the latest developments and timing of the AIFMD as well as key resource papers from the Commission, ESMA and FSA.
Our funds formation team has a broad-ranging and internationally based practice and regularly advises on retail and institutional funds, onshore, offshore, open and closed ended. We particularly excel in specialist and alternative funds and asset classes, such as listed funds, private equity and cleantech funds, Islamic funds, carbon funds, real estate and infrastructure funds, debt funds, capital protected/guaranteed, structured products and hedge funds and funds of hedge funds.
Our relationship does not end with the launch of the fund. We remain on hand to advise on the use of derivatives to hedge risks, methods of achieving liquidity, regulatory and corporate governance issues and other ongoing matters. We also regularly advise on fund or portfolio restructurings.
Our areas of work include:
- investment fund launches, fund raisings and restructuring
- M&A and corporate transactions for asset managers
- structured products/derivatives
- regulatory issues
- dispute resolution
- outsourcing
- employment and incentives
- tax
Our recent work:
- Advising Starwood European Real Estate Finance Limited, a newly incorporated Guernsey investment company on its IPO, which raised £228 million, making it the largest investment company IPO of 2012.
- Advising Jefferies International Limited on the IPO of Blue Capital Global Reinsurance Fund Limited, which raised £100 million.
- Advising Greencoat UK Wind plc, a newly incorporated UK domiciled investment company, on its proposed IPO, which will raise between £205 and £260 million on its admission to the Official List and to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. Greencoat is unique in being the first fully seeded wind energy infrastructure fund to launch on the London markets.
- Advising Oriel Securities as sole sponsor and book runner on the placing and offer for subscription of shares in Alcentra European Floating Rate Income Fund Limited, a new Guernsey incorporated investment company investing in floating rate, secured loans or high yield bonds issued by European and US corporates.
- Advising long-standing client F&C Asset Management plc (F&C) on its acquisition of the Thames River Capital group for consideration of up to £53.6 million.
- Advising Europa Capital, the European private equity real estate fund manager, on the sale of a strategic stake to Rockefeller Group, creating a $20 billion (£12.7 billion) fund management group.
- Investigating and advising a global bank on insider dealing and market abuse issues relating to trading by its fund managers in the bond markets.
- Advising J.P. Morgan AG on the establishment of a fund supermarket for a German insurance company, including the outsourcing of order flow, settlement and account management (account opening and maintenance) as well as shareholder record-keeping.
- Advised Henderson Equity Partners on the establishment of the Henderson Infrastructure Fund III, a private equity fund investing in primary infrastructure assets and businesses primarily in the UK, EU and North America.
- Advising on the structuring and establishment of Macquarie Infrastructure Partners II International L.P., a fund for investment in infrastructure projects in North America.
- Advising Skyline Capital on the launch of a Cayman long/short equity fund and a separate UCITS product.