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Legal & compliance advisory

What the AI?!...Confluence

President and COO, Todd Moyer, walks The Drawdown through the company’s AI tool for regulatory filing, Rex

Gilks succeeds Holdsworth as GC at TDR

Emma Gilks has been at the firm since 2015 and holding the role of deputy general counsel since 2023

Chambon sprouts in Luxembourg

Formerly with Simmons & Simmons, Matthieu Chambon founds new boutique law firm dedicated to asset management and investment funds

Alvarez & Marsal launches ESG practice

Formerly EY’s global private equity ESG leader, Will Rhode is set to spearhead the new offering

King & Spalding scoops up fund finance and ESG team

A group of 13 has joined the firm, all from rival Cadwalader (from top left to bottom right: Sukhvir Basran; James Hoggett; Michael Hubbard; Samantha Hutchinson; Mathan Navaratnam; and Nathan Parker)

Bridging the Atlantic

Despite the Fifth Circuit ruling that quashed the SEC’s proposed Private Fund Adviser Rules, the gap between the US and European approaches to fund operations is getting smaller, writes Jon Whiteaker

Navigating a changing regulatory environment

From Brexit to the pandemic, recent geopolitical events have led to major legal changes throughout the UK and Europe. American firms are tasked with figuring out which reforms help and which hurt, writes Kyle Campbell

Profile: Amy Knapp, Partner and COO, Corsair Capital

More than two decades after being plunged into the CFO role at just 25, she shares why she is still leading operations at the firm

Fidelity Investments welcomes head of asset management legal

Nicole Macarchuk joins the firm from Dechert

Walker Guidelines to get a touch up

The BVCA is undertaking an overdue review of its corporate reporting rules

5 minutes with… John Byrne, Corlytics

The CEO and founder discusses the growth and divergence in compliance and how service providers can keep up with their clients’ demands

TDR’s Holdsworth moves to Paul, Weiss

After almost two years as partner and general counsel at TDR Capital, David Holdsworth moves back into private practice at the US law firm

Scaling compliance

How can GPs climb the mountain of paperwork and enjoy the view from the top?

A GP’s guide to the ILPA’s guide to NAV loans

How are the Association’s NAV loan guidelines impacting fund formation?

Regs ‘n’ Relaxation

The Commission has adopted a proposal for the ELTIF RTS which takes into account industry criticism towards the much more rigid requirements published by ESMA last year

5 minutes with… James Sutton, CEO and founder of Avantia Law

Sutton discusses his vision for the future of professional services, workflow efficiency, AI and the hourly rate model

Fund HQ hires head of ODD

Olga Romanova joins to lead the outsourced COO firm’s newly launched ODD service

The ILPA’s NAV guidelines

While concerns around DPI enhancement remain, formal guidance from the association legitimises NAV facilities, which have come under scrutiny over the last year

Dechert grows Dubai funds practice

Firm welcomes Amanjit Fagura as partner, focused on fund structuring

Paul, Weiss names co-head of European investment funds practice

Jeremy Leggate joins the firm from Kirkland & Ellis

Goodwin expands private investment funds practice

Formerly with Dechert, Thiha Tun joins the firm as a partner

ACA acquires Encore Compliance

Acquisition to enhance ACA’s managed services offering with AI-enabled surveillance

UK government issues call for evidence on carry tax

Stakeholders are invited to send written replies by 30 August and arrange for in-person meetings any time beforehand

Robin AI picks Singapore for Asia hub

Geographical expansion comes after doubling footprint in New York

A third of private market firms leave compliance to last minute

New research from CSC which looks at SPV in private markets sees 69% of senior professionals citing economic substance regulations as top challenge

Profile: Karen Sands, COO, Federated Hermes Private Equity

From psychology to finance; from finance to COO; Karen Sands charts her professional journey, highlighting how her interpersonal skills have helped her reshape teams

5 minutes with… Philipp Neidel and Joachim Mogck, partners at Orbit

Neidel (right) and Mogck (left) launched their boutique law firm to specifically focus on advising the product ‘fund’ and deploy technology to improve and accelerate services

A&O Shearman strengthens fund finance team

Clovis joins the firm’s sponsor-side debt finance practice from Kirkland & Ellis

Out with the old and in with the new

Rede Partners Liquidity Index finds LPs actively seeking new relationships and expecting fewer re-ups with existing managers

HSF launches ESG tracker

Law firm aims to empower through information and provide an early warning system

Conundrum of ESG choice

Amid a myriad of software, partnerships and consultants, how do GPs make the right choice?

Moody’s and MSCI team up

Partnership to enhance ESG transparency and explore private credit market opportunities

Legal & General launches LTAF

Vehicle is part of the firm’s broader strategy to facilitate private market investments access for DC pension schemes

NLC adds general counsel

Ruth Pearson joins after eight years at LendInvest

Leverage limitations on private credit funds

AIFMD II introduces new rules for loan origination funds and firms will have to make a choice

Former BlackRock VP joins Avantia

Paul Gaskell takes up mantle of CTO at the law firm

Validus adds pre-trade check functionality

Company aims to streamline risk management workflows and improve operational efficiency for clients

HWF opens Milan office

Opening marks first Italian office for W&I insurance provider, led by Arianna Scocchera

Robin AI launches contracts report builder

Robin AI Reports automatically generates and reviews legal contract reports

Travers Smith adds to retailisation expertise

Joel Grossmark, formerly European legal counsel at Blackstone, joins the firm as a partner

FIS launches climate risk financial modelling tool

SaaS offering to support clients with assessing, reducing and reporting risks tied to climate change

Fiscally fit

Cap table complexities and potential solutions

Gibson Dunn welcomes tax partner

Formerly with Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Benjamin Rapp joins the firm’s tax practice group across Munich and Frankfurt

Passthrough welcomes head of financial crime

Mark Mangion formally joins full-time after spending the last two years in the role of financial crime adviser

Snoop dog: Who watches the regulators?

The Drawdown evaluates different proposals to regulate the FCA and PRA

Leverst launches relationship tracker

Company aims to shine light on dynamics of LBO transactions in the DACH market

Ogier adds to fund expertise in Dubai

Dominic Athwal relocates to Dubai and receives promotion to counsel

Skadden welcomes financial regulation partner

Formerly with Linklaters, Sebastian Barling advises on regulatory aspects of M&A, investment funds, PE funds, insurers and banks

Cost cutters: Four tips for operational resilience

Ace & Company’s managing partner Sally Beh says careful cash management is a crucial step in trying times

HSF launches ESG reporting tool

Law firm’s tool to analyse corporate structures and create reports including legal advice on reporting obligations

White & Case expands Luxembourg tax practice

Ex-Allen & Overy counsel Guilhèm Becvort specialises in cross-border tax law for private equity, debt and real estate strategies

White & Case add funds partner in Luxembourg

Emmanuel Gutton joins from the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry

Putting the ‘private’ back into take-privates

Decision by UK Takeover Panel helps private equity firms by removing the obligation on public companies to disclose bidders

Goodwin and Passthrough deepen partnership

Tech provider's e-subscriptions offering integrated into law firm’s services

Reframe launches debt advisory

The advisory has partnered with Sandeep Pradhan and his business Liverpool Street Capital Advisors

FCA gets ready to scrub

Financial watchdog’s anti-greenwashing rule is effective from 31 May 2024; The Drawdown checks it to make sure PE ticks all boxes

Corlytics snaps up Deloitte regtech platform

Following investment from Verdane, the company expands its geographic reach and augments service capabilities

Strength trAIning

Three ways to nurture generative AI to enhance operational resilience strategies

The FTC’s non-compete ban and its consequences

If you or your loved ones have been incentivised to remain at your current employer, you may be entitled to compensation

Clifford Chance promotes Dunne to partner

Stephanie Dunne has been at the firm for a decade, since completing her training contract

Ogier welcomes McManus into partnership

Matt McManus joined the firm in 2021 as a managing associate

AIFM-P

The ‘P’ stands for: “potential for wider reform in the FCA’s AIFMD review”

EQT appoints legal director

Formerly with Invesco, StepStone and BlackRock, Archanna Ramu will be responsible for client relations and capital raising

Hamilton lane ‘pushes back’ on NAV loans

“We want to ensure the right guardrails are in place to protect LPs,” says managing director John Stake

HNWI hurdling

The UK may have reversed its changes to the HNWI regime but the conversation seems far from over

Debevoise appoints funds partner

Goodwin’s Shawn D’Aguiar makes the switch after seven years

Bain & Company’s Alexander Schmitz succeeds Christophe De Vusser

Schmitz will assume the role of private equity EMEA practice lead

DunPort appoints GC

Niamh O’Reilly joins the private debt asset manager after nine years at corporate law firm McCann FitzGerald

FCA proposes permanent bundling of research payments

The consultation aims to make concrete the potential to pay for investment research and trade execution simultaneously, diverging from the EU’s MiFID II legislative framework

Compliance issues cost GPs mandates, says Ocorian

Study from Ocorian and Newgate Compliance additionally shows increasing levels of conflict between fund management and compliance teams

Addleshaw absorbs KWM Madrid office

The team of 60 lawyers will be led by KWM Madrid managing partner Roberto Pomares

Verdane backs Corlytics

Fresh funds to support organic growth, M&A activity and investments in “intelligent offering”

Zanders acquires RiskQuest

Risk management consultancy expands its presence in Europe by absorbing RiskQuest’s Amsterdam HQ in addition to 11 other international offices

ORC and Dasseti partner up

The investment advisory firm aims to improve its ODD services with the partnership

‘This is where things have substantially changed’

The Drawdown catches up with Jonathan Blake, the inventor of the LP model and the rules on VC trusts, to discuss fund trends, retailisation and regulation

Ogier appoints Luxembourg funds partner

Hervé Leclercq will advise PE, real estate and infrastructure fund managers on fund structuring, operating and marketing

Behind the multiple

Calculating carried interest with TVPI multiples means clear definitions of contributions and distributions are needed, a Colmore case study finds

Mayer Brown expands tax practice

Sam Riesenberg joins after 12 years at KPMG US

Oaklins NL launches valuation advisory

Firm welcomes new partners Tijn Bastiaans and Costas Constantinou

ATOZ acquires Deveco

Acquisition to increase the range of services offered

Whatever happened to ESG-linked loans?

As tools for ESG transformation they seem to have been abandoned but they still have their place

Macfarlanes promotes six

The round of partner promotions includes that of corporate tax lawyer Joe Robinson

JTC Law appoints head of investment funds and corporate

Leanne Wallser has two decades of experience practising Jersey Law

Katten appoints three to investment management office

Thomas Laurer, Ryan Hansen and Daniel Lewin join from Curtis

Corvus launches administration business

The company has added fund administration services to its existing legal and compliance business

Herbert Smith Freehills appoints ESG leadership across US, UK and EMEA

Partner Heike Schmitz to co-head the firm’s ESG EMEA practice together with partner Iria Calviño, among other appointments

Domos FS partners with Cascade

Partnership will allow Domos FS’s clients to rely on Cascade for AML and KYC matters

RobinAI integrates Claude 3

The AI legal chatbot has partnered with Anthropic since 2022

White & Case appoints funds partner

Formerly at Ropes & Gray, Lavanya Raghavan to join the firm and reunite with former colleague Emily Brown

Rede Partners appoints head of strategic capital advisory

Riccardo Villa will lead the advisory’s alternative liquidity solutions services

European Commission rejects ESMA’s ELTIF 2.0 draft RTS

Liquidity mechanisms have been revised to make it easier to set up evergreen funds and to better attract individual investors to private markets, but the proposals still divide the investment community

FCA increases AML oversight

Recipients of the regulator’s recent Dear CEO letter have six months to perform a gap analysis

Kirkland appoints ESG partner

Rebecca Perlman joins after a 12-year tenure at Herbert Smith Freehills

Taylor Wessing appoints fund formation partner

Shervin Shameli was formerly co-head of Reed Smith’s private funds formation group

Kroll launches two fraud solution tools

Risk Analytics Monitor and Managed Compliance Software use data analytics and AI technology to help automate risk management workflows

The Third Party

The borrowers and lenders of fund finance have credit rating company…

Bischoff succeeds Peel as head of finance at Travers Smith

Charles Bischoff (left) has been a partner since 2012; Peel (right) to remain at the firm and continue to ‘play a significant role’ in the practice

Tyrannosaurus Regs?

How are global regulators scrutinising AML procedures and is that oversight increasing?

Economic symptoms of longevity

Addleshaw Goddard’s latest Funds Trends Report showcases the effects of longer fundraising and investing periods on the economics of the GP-LP relationship

Comment: What you need to know about ELTIF 2.0

Karma Samdup and Vicki Odette, partners at Haynes & Boone, examine how ELTIF 2.0 aims to unlock private market access for retail investors

Next stop – carried interest

Liquidity event delays are having an effect on waterfall calculation models

ILPA appoints inaugural general counsel

Appointment comes amid association’s legal battle with PE trade bodies regarding preferential treatment under SEC’s Private Fund Rules

Seven out of 10 fund managers received AML fines in last two years

Ocorian’s latest survey finds alternative investment firms concerned about increasing AML risks

Borne but not raised

A tight fundraising and deal-doing environment has GPs pondering how to structure aborted deal costs

Ogier expands Luxembourg fund finance team

Delphine Gomes is a banking and finance counsel with experience in fund, leveraged and real estate financing

ESG: The fund-of-funds perspective

Once removed from the underlying portfolio, this type of LP is focused on private equity’s journey rather than instant compliance

Ocorian acquires Bovill

Fund administrator adds regulatory consultancy firm into its compliance offering

Apollo appoints ESG counsel

Previously a legal secondee at the firm, Angus Brown joins from Simmons & Simmons

Comment: Court controversy

Matthew Pincus, international counsel at Debevoise & Plimpton, warns that a recent court decision increases risk for non-US funds active in the US

Proskauer adds private funds partner in London

Fund formation specialist for credit strategies, James Oussedik, joins from Sidley Austin

Ontra further builds on GPT-4 functionality

Company aims to accelerate expansion into more document types and launch additional features

LeadingMile partners with Qashqade

The partnership aims to increase European GP access to automated waterfall calculations and cap-table monitoring

Robin AI launches contract defined-term checker

The additional feature means contract terms can be automatically verified and located within a document

The carrot in addition to the stick

FCA’s proposed regime on non-financial misconduct shines light on firms’ workplace culture

Glendower Capital promotes legal managing director

Kate Simpson came to the firm almost two years ago as legal director for transactions

Kroll makes Lux MD appointment

Elena Moisei joins from EY to lead the firm’s work with alternative investment fund managers in Luxembourg

Intelligent Legal Solutions enters market with side-letter management solution

Company aims to automate side-letter management for law firms and keep billable hours for private equity firms down

The ops ‘n’ regs of wealth managers

Amid traditional LPs maxing out their allocations, PE looks to wealth managers to fill the gap – but they come with distinct requirements

Genesis Capital appoints legal counsel

Petr Müller joins from law firm Dentons

Accenture acquires Impendi

Deal for sourcing and procurement services provider is a bid to further build out Accenture’s private equity capabilities