Investment Funds Experience
Premier Asset Management
Advising on the establishment and FSA authorisation of the UK's first "Property Authorised Investment Fund" or "PAIF", the Piccadilly UK Commercial Property Income Fund. This is a new form of tax transparent real estate investment vehicle benefiting from many of the tax efficiencies which Real Estate Investment Trusts enjoy but without the requirement to list on the main stock exchange. Burges Salmon has also been appointed as sole property advisers to the UK's second PAIF, the CB Richard Ellis UK Property Fund.
Investment Fund Services Limited
Acting for Investment Fund Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of BNP Paribas Securities Services on the establishment and FSA authorisation of the "Privalto" range of stabiliser capital protected funds. This included the provision of legal and regulatory advice around the structure itself including the equity derivative forming the core of the product range as well as negotiating the terms of the ISDA documentation and credit support annex within the specific FSA requirements set out in the specialist sourcebook, COLL.
Openwork Holdings Limited
Advising Openwork Holdings Limited on its joint venture with Octopus Investments to create Omnis Investments, a new and innovative distributor-led fund management structure. We were also involved in the commercial framework supporting umbrella OEIC, Omnis Investments ICVC and its range of sub-funds managed by each of Octopus, Threadneedle and J.P. Morgan respectively.
Premier Asset Management
Acting for Premier Asset Management on its acquisition from Aberdeen Asset Management of the investment management business relating to two investment fund umbrellas containing ten former Credit Suisse sub-funds. The fund management contracts comprised approximately £910 million of assets which took Premier's total assets under management to approximately £2.5 billion. We also acted on the related private equity transaction with Electra Partners
Key institutional client
Advising a key institutional client on its participation in an international infrastructure fund through an English limited partnership. This involved negotiations on the terms of the limited partnership agreement itself as well as settling the terms of a side letter with the fund manager. The project involved our consideration of the private placement memorandum, constitutional documentation and underlying agreements as well as obtaining tax, corporate and securities law opinions from relevant jurisdictions: in this case, US (Delaware) and Guernsey. We also recently advised the same client in relation to the management buy-out of this fund.