Whatever challenge you are facing - from development of new products through to concerns about “greenwashing” and reputational risk, our multi-disciplinary team will be with you to provide support on every step of your journey.
We advise asset managers, investment funds, investors and service providers. Our expertise covers legal, regulatory, transactional and tax matters, both contentious and non-contentious.
The wealth and asset management sector faces now, more than ever in these challenging times, largely unabated regulatory change, huge economic and market uncertainty and challenging investor expectations. Resilience and good governance is at the forefront of regulatory and business minds alike. There are also exciting opportunities to grasp, with increasing focus on ESG investing, and the dynamic developments in FinTech, improving customer experience and business efficiency.
We are here to help wealth and asset management business across the sector, investors, intermediaries and service providers, to meet these challenges and to find solutions that work best for them.
Financial services is what we do.
Our specialists work seamlessly together across practice groups as one team and provide a true "cradle to grave" service. We support businesses through the whole product lifecycle. We also act for a wide range of investors, including pension schemes, fund of funds, sovereign wealth funds and other institutions, and are therefore able to give both managers and investors a whole market perspective. Many of our specialists have spent time in senior positions in-house or with regulators ensuring our advice is commercially astute and alive to the thinking of policy makers and regulators.
We are fully immersed across the wealth and asset management sector.
Expertise
- Core areas of focus
- Fund establishment and capital raising - covering listed and unlisted funds and a multitude of asset classes
- Regulatory change implementation - advising on new legislation, rules and guidance and implementing compliance programmes
- Corporate transactions - asset acquisitions, disposals, co-investments and fund transfers
- Funds finance - acting for borrower and lenders on a number of credit facilities providing liquidity to funds
- Tax structuring – designing tax optimal fund and transaction structures
- Contentious and pre-contentious matters - guiding clients through regulatory investigations, disputes and interacting with the regulators
- Industry outreach - working with trade bodies to ensure the voice of the investment management sector is heard by policy makers
- Snapshot of recent experience
- Worked with various hedge funds and hedge fund managers; especially, around the UK 'shoreline' tests for international asset management (IME) and structuring of hedge funds. We acted (providing the tax / structuring advice) for a long standing client on the largest hedge fund raised in London in 2016 ($2.5 billion)
- Carried out a skilled persons review of asset allocation and risk profiles across a suite of funds managed by a large wealth management business. The FCA had concerns at a potential mismatch between the asset allocation and risk classification of the funds. Our report led to remedial action but no action being taken against the client
- Advised a major UK financial institution on the establishment of a large UK platform – we advised on the structure of the arrangements and on platform terms; on the banking model and CASS dealing (with bare trustee issues). The platform facilitates transactions in funds; exchange traded funds; and supports SIPPs. We also advised on the migration of assets to the new platform; drafted client and platform documents; and negotiated technology agreements; outsourcing agreements; and distribution arrangements
- Advised Saga on the creation of Saga Investment Services, a joint venture with Tilney Bestinvest. The structure, involving the creation of a joint venture company, was complex, and required detailed regulatory analysis. We advised on all aspects of the transaction including the licencing, servicing and distribution arrangements
- Aviva Investors on the establishment of the £250 million Aviva Investors PiP Solar PV Fund
- Virgin Money on the sale of part of its retail investment management business to Aberdeen Standard Investments, and related joint venture arrangements
- A Swiss-based asset manager and its joint venture partner on facilities from JPMorgan to finance the construction of an energy infrastructure asset in Texas
- Telereal Trillium on its £1.5billion joint venture with Blackstone in connection with the acquisition and development of the British Railways arches portfolio
- Standard Life Aberdeen on the full range of matters for their property funds, from lettings and management work to sales, purchases and forward fundings
- A number of asset managers on their Brexit contingency planning, including migration of functions and continued access to fund marketing regimes
- Advising Actis LLP on the takeover of a number of funds managed by the Abraaj Group, representing approximately US$5 billion of assets under management – one of the headline transactions in the market in 2019
- Facts and recognition
- Investment Management Group recently nominated for private equity funds team of the year 2019 by Legal Week
- Currently act for 7 of the UK Top 12 Asset Managers
- Funds Trends Report Shortlisted for FT Innovation Awards (2018)
- Testimonials
"It's the simplicity of dealing with them – they tend to make everything easy and rather than coming to you with problems they will come to you with a solution, giving you their point of view on the legal points but with a commercial spin."
Chambers UK
Key contact
Meet the team
- Resources
Trends in Private Fund Terms Report - 2019
Get up to date with unique and market leading intelligence across all of the key fund terms; commentary from leading practitioners on emerging trends in the market; an insight into the growing funds finance industry; and a summary of recent regulatory developments, combined with a look ahead to further regulatory changes due in 2020.