Who is the Working Guide for?
- All participants in the growing Fund Finance industry, particularly those new or relatively new to the industry
What does the Working Guide cover?
The Working Guide covers all aspects of the main Fund Finance products in Europe, with a specific and detailed focus on:
- Subscription Finance
- NAV and Asset Finance, including both Primary and Secondary NAV Finance
- GP and Manager Finance
- Securitisation in Fund Finance
In addition the Working Guide touches on other products increasingly prevalent in the Fund Finance industry, including Preferred Equity and looks at specific issues relating to Fund Finance across and related to Europe through various lenses, including leading lawyers, lenders (both traditional bank and alternative lenders), funds, ratings agencies and trade and industry associations with chapters contributed by:
- Lloyds Bank PLC and JP Morgan sharing differing bank lender perspectives;
- NLC sharing an “alternative lender” perspective with specific focus on Term Loan products
- ICG sharing their “Fund” perspectives
- The LMA including their Glossary of Fund Finance terms
- The FFA sharing their perspective on the current European Fund Finance market; and
- Fitch Ratings with their perspectives on the introduction and refinement of ratings technology to and within the industry and related to the various industry products..
Specific” country” chapters include (in addition to the main general and “UK” chapters contributed by Addleshaw Goddard):
- Ireland (Arthur Cox)
- France (Stephenson Harwood)
- Spain (Addleshaw Goddard)
- Luxembourg (Loyens & Loeff)
- Channel Islands (Carey Olsen); and
- Cayman Islands (Travers Thorpe Alberga)
Why is the Working Guide needed?
The Fund Finance industry has grown exponentially over the past few years, from a somewhat “specialist” industry focussing mostly (but not exclusively) on Subscription Finance to an industry open to all sources of finance including the capital markets in which pretty much all Finance products are available, with the only common thread being that the underlying borrowers of such products are either Funds or their related entities (General Partners, Limited Partners (or equivalent) Managers, Aggregators and / or Special Purpose Vehicles).
Alongside that growth has been a significant expansion in the individual participants in the industry, with all sectors servicing the industry needing to recruit and significantly expand those dealing with Fund Finance. Until the publication of the 1st edition of the Working Guide (in November 2024) there was however nothing in the industry that summarised all the relevant aspects of Fund Finance in one place. The 2nd edition published in November 2025 repeats that summary but also adds to it (reflecting the significant pace of developments within the industry and the commensurate requirements for coverage of additional elements of it).