Shaela W Rae 

Fund financing covers a range of financing possibilities but most commonly involves capital call or subscription facilities. It is a specialist area that requires an understanding of fund structuring, the risks involved in lending to funds and specific security requirements. Underlying relationships between investors, borrowers and lenders are key to the success of the industry. We work with lenders and borrowers to maintain these relationships at every stage of the process, with our commercial, efficient and pragmatic approach to managing transactions.

Our uniquely diverse practice regularly assists with the establishment of both open and closed-ended fund structures. In addition to traditional Channel Island private equity and real estate structures and Caribbean hedge funds, we have advised on a number of alternative and esoteric classes. We work alongside our clients to understand their investment thesis and provide bespoke drafting to build the fund they want as opposed to generic template structures and documentation. We advise clients at every step of the process, including preparing offer documents, investor negotiations, the preparation of agreements, and in the closing of transactions.

In addition to advising on the establishment of investment structures we advise on the drafting and interpretation of investment management and advisory mandates including performance fees and remuneration packages. Our practical yet precise approach in this highly technical area is driven by significant onshore experience. We are not a team of lawyers who "don’t do the maths" but understand performance related fee structures and incentives need to consider and capture the widest range of potential scenarios – our depth of expertise enables us to achieve that.

Our investment practice is not limited to regulated investment funds. With private capital deployment a global trend we also advise clients on a range of unregulated and private structures. These include structures allowing new promoters to build a track record or investment clubs to access particular investments without incurring the time or financial cost of entering the regulatory regime. In addition we frequently work with our award winning private client team to provide investment fund like solutions for family offices or HNWs. Our team's experience in this often overlooked area of the investment sector can help our clients manage regulation and plan their structures for future growth without unnecessary limitations.

Our team has a wealth of experience advising on all aspects of corporate acquisitions providing seamless support from agreeing heads of terms all the way through to completion.

Our experienced team will handle the due diligence process, from initial requests for information and documentation, transitioning to the review phase, making further requisitions as necessary and producing a comprehensive due diligence report setting out key issues and areas for risk mitigation.

We provide expert legal support on both local and cross border amalgamations of regulated and unregulated companies and work closely with our dispute resolution team on local schemes of arrangement.

We advise on structured bond issues, including covered bonds, convertible debt, private equity and intra-group debt finance and hybrid deals that make use of offshore special purpose debt vehicles. We also advise onshore issuers with listing Eurobonds and other debt instruments on The International Stock Exchange in Guernsey and the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange. Our partners and senior lawyers have significant experience and understanding of the nuances of such transactions, and are very well placed to provide practical, tailored advice.

We advise on all forms of public offerings by companies incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Jersey. Our clients include trading companies, SPACs, brokers, advisors and NOMADs, and recent transactions have included listings on both the London Stock Exchange's Main Market and AIM, as well as other leading international exchanges and offshore markets. We cover the full scope of transactions for listed companies, from IPOs to rights issues, secondary offerings, equity bridge financing, mergers and acquisitions, including schemes or arrangement and reverse takeovers, and de-listing.

Our securities and capital markets team advise on all aspects of securitisation transactions, including the structuring of securities and securitisation vehicles, producing the prospectus, providing regulatory advice and advising on promotion restrictions and requirements. Our clients include both offshore and onshore banks as well as other financial instructions.

Our teams have extensive experience of working with cutting-edge technology businesses in this burgeoning sector which increasingly crosses into the capital markets space.

We have the corporate and regulatory expertise to ensure our clients are well supported with the launch of their cryptocurrency businesses, or to raise funds through the issue of virtual tokens. We have advised on the launch of a number of virtual currency exchangers, crypto investment fund managers and funds, and international groups and clients on fundraisings, including raising funds through virtual token offerings.