Raj Marphatia
Partner
Raj Marphatia is a partner in the asset management group, and the co-managing partner of the firm’s Silicon Valley and San Francisco offices. He has over 25 years of experience in the full spectrum of private investment funds, including buyout funds, venture capital funds, hedge funds, fund of funds, and CBOs. He assists sponsors in forming, operating, and investing such funds, and also represents institutional investors (including endowments, pension funds, fund of funds, private foundations, and family offices) in investing in private investment funds, both in primary and secondary transactions. Clients also rely on Raj for his deep knowledge of M&A and “spinoff” transactions in the financial services industry. Raj was recently recognized by Chambers Global as a World’s Leading Lawyer for Business and Chambers USA as one of America's Leading Lawyers for Business.
He is a member of the firm’s diversity committee and is very active in the firm’s pro bono program.
Experience
- Sponsor clients: ArcLight Capital Partners, Bain Capital, B Capital, Covalent Partners, Forest Capital Partners, Moelis Capital Partners, Monitor Clipper Partners, Pacific Equity Partners, Pathway Capital Management.
- Investor clients: Adams Street Partners, Asia Alternatives Capital Management, California Endowment, Columbia University, J. Paul Getty Trust, Kamehameha Schools, Makena Capital, National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Partners Group, Pepperdine University, Rockefeller Foundation, Stanford University.
Raj has also been involved on both sides of “spinoffs” of investment professionals from large financial institutions. He represented Harvard Management Company in connection with employee departures resulting in the formation of Charlesbank Capital, Highfields Capital, Regiment Capital, Adage Capital, Sowood Capital, and Convexity Capital. In addition, he represented the founders of ArcLight Capital Partners in their spinoff from John Hancock, and the founders of Lighthouse Investment Partners in their spinoff from SunTrust Banks, Inc.
Publications
- Co-author, “Risk avoidance and allocation in secondaries transactions,” Private Equity International (September 8, 2019)
- Quoted, “The SEC isn’t taking its eye off private funds” Private Equity International (March 25, 2018)
- Featured, “Secondaries transactions: the lawyers’ take,” Secondaries Investor (March 16, 2017)
- Co-author, “Legal issues in secondaries transactions,” The Secondaries Market (Private Equity International, December 2016)
- Co-author, “Squaring the letter of California's new fee disclosure law with the realities of alternative investment funds,” Pensions & Investments (December 28, 2016)
- Co-author, “Best practice: Considerations in the face of California’s new fee disclosure law,” HFM Investor Relations (October 28, 2016)
- Co-author, The Limited Partner’s Perspective, chapter in Global Investment Funds (2016), published by Global Law and Business Ltd.
- Co-author, “California’s New Alternative Investment Fee Disclosure Bill,” The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation (October 3, 2016)
- Co-author, “Political contributions,” The US Private Equity Fund Compliance Guide (Private Equity International, April 2016)
- Co-author, “European Union Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers: Impact on US fund managers,” The US Private Equity Fund Compliance Guide (Private Equity International, April 2016)
- Quoted, “Avoiding Co-investing’s ‘Third Rail,” GP Operations Compendium – A Privcap Special Report (July 2016)
- Co-author, “European Union Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers: Impact on US fund managers,” The US Private Equity Fund Compliance Guide (Private Equity International, January 2012)
- Co-author, “Political contributions,” The US Private Equity Fund Compliance Guide (Private Equity International, January 2012)
- John Ayer, Raj Marphatia & Susan Eisenberg, “United States,” chapter nine of The Private Equity Review (Law Business Research, 2012)
- Co-author, “Overview of Legal and Regulatory Considerations for Investor Relations Professionals,” chapter eighteen of The Investor Relations Manual (Private Equity International, 2011)
- Co-author, “Political contributions,” The US Private Equity Fund Compliance Guide (Private Equity International, October 2010)
- Co-author, “European Union Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers: Impact on US fund managers,” The US Private Equity Fund Compliance Guide (Private Equity International, October 2010)
Presentations
- Panelist, NYPPEX Webinar on Secondary Private Equity Markets Worldwide: 2019 Midyear Review and Outlook, (July 31, 2019)
- Speaker, NYPPEX Roundtable Webinar, NYPPEX Private Markets (October 2017)
- Speaker, “Intricacies of Fund Restructurings,” Secondaries Investor’s 2017 Secondaries Retreat (June 21, 2017)
- Speaker, “Fund restructurings,” Secondaries Investor’s 2016 Secondaries Retreat,” (June, 2016)
- Panelist, "The JOBS Act: How It Will Change Fundraising For PE Firms," Dow Jones Webcast (November 2012)
Education
- JD, Harvard Law School, 1988
- AB, Harvard College, 1981