Asset Management

Fried Frank's Asset Management Practice serves the needs of the global asset management industry by providing a full range of legal services to a diverse group of clients, including US, European and international financial institutions, hedge fund managers, private equity firms, investment advisers, family offices and institutional investors.

We provide top-tier advice on all aspects of funds, managed accounts and other investment vehicles, including fund formation, negotiation of managed accounts and advisory agreements, structuring management companies and compensation arrangements, spin-outs, seeding and stakes transactions, documentation of prime brokerage and other trading arrangements, and advice regarding ongoing operations.

Our capacities include:

• Hedge funds: Advising clients on all aspects of the structuring, offering and ongoing operations of hedge funds, funds-of-hedge funds and related products.
• Private equity, credit and debt, real estate and other closed-end funds: Representing sponsors and managers of private equity funds and funds-of-private equity-funds, credit and debt funds, venture capital funds, distressed asset funds, leveraged buyout funds, infrastructure funds and real estate funds.
• Fund offerings: Assisting clients in organizing and offering investment funds and related products in a variety of jurisdictions, including dealing with listings, local restrictions on fund marketing and related regulatory filings and other requirements.
• Derivatives and prime brokerage arrangements: Covering the full spectrum of prime brokerage and other trading agreements and instruments, including OTC, listed and cleared products, futures agreements, repurchase agreements, structured investments and other bespoke financial instruments involving derivative products.
• Regulation of investment advisers and alternative investment fund managers: Helping the investment management industry meet the challenges that current global regulatory regimes present both in the US and Europe, including advising on registration, ongoing compliance, status questions, fund structuring and marketing issues, and strategic organizational change related to the regulatory environment.
• Management company and compensation issues: Structuring management companies, carried interest and compensation arrangements and navigating related tax issues.
• Seed and stake deals: Advising both investors and investees in connection with seed and stake investments ranging from emerging funds to established fund management companies, including negotiation of revenue shares, minority protections, future investment rights and exits.
• Spin-outs and secondaries: Extensive experience in spin-out transactions and in the sale of and investment in existing limited partnerships, interests and direct portfolios. Our team represents institutional sponsors on LP secondaries (both sale and purchase transactions), direct secondaries, synthetic secondaries, fund manager spin-outs and other fund-related transactions. We have considerable experience representing investors and management teams in stapled secondary transactions and spin-outs.
• Institutional investors: Representing institutional investors in connection with hedge fund, private equity fund, co-investment and other transactions, including funds of one and managed accounts.
• Examination, regulatory, enforcement and civil litigation assignments: Representing investment advisers, broker-dealer and other clients in governmental and self-regulatory organization investigations, examinations and enforcement proceedings, as well as in civil litigations and arbitrations.

Our team brings top quality technical and commercial skills to bear on every matter, including a practical understanding of critical regulatory developments and the ability to best address specific considerations for our varied global client base. We offer integrated supporting practices in specialty areas critical to the seamless execution of fund formations and transactions, including regulatory, tax, finance, ERISA, AIFMD, trading agreements, capital markets and intellectual property.

Fried Frank's Asset Management Practice serves the needs of the global asset management industry by providing a full range of legal services to a diverse group of clients, including US, European and international financial institutions, hedge fund managers, private equity firms, investment advisers, family offices and institutional investors.

We provide top-tier advice on all aspects of funds, managed accounts and other investment vehicles, including fund formation, negotiation of managed accounts and advisory agreements, structuring management companies and compensation arrangements, spin-outs, seeding and stakes transactions, documentation of prime brokerage and other trading arrangements, and advice regarding ongoing operations.

Our capacities include:

• Hedge funds: Advising clients on all aspects of the structuring, offering and ongoing operations of hedge funds, funds-of-hedge funds and related products.
• Private equi...