Sponsor Representation

Ropes & Gray advises leading sponsors around the world on key business and financial issues across the full range of private investment funds.

Overview

Ropes & Gray provides a comprehensive set of services to sponsors. We have deep experience in advising sponsors on the organization of the full range of private investment funds and similar products – whether closed-end or open-end, whether structured as a fund, separate account or another arrangement and whatever asset class is the focus of the investment strategy.

Consistently recognized as a leader in the field, we have organized over 500 funds for sponsor clients in the past five years. These include buyout funds, CDO/CLOs, co-investment funds, commodity-focused funds, credit opportunity funds, energy and infrastructure funds, fund of funds, hedge funds, mezzanine funds, real estate funds, secondary funds, and venture capital funds.

In addition to fund formation, we counsel sponsors regarding the structure and operation of the entities that serve as general partners and managers to their funds, with a particular focus on internal governance and economic arrangements including the allocation and vesting of carried interest, joint ventures with and investments from third parties, generational transition and other partner additions and departures, estate planning, placement agent agreements, subscription lines of credit, and insurance coverage.

We also have considerable experience in helping private fund sponsors comply with the increased regulation to which they are subject around the world. In addition, we represent sponsors in connection with buying and selling their management companies, including accepting investments from strategic investors and spinning out of an institutional money manager to establish an independent investment management firm.

Across the globe, we are counsel to many of the largest and most well-known fund sponsors in the industry, and the number of funds we represent is evenly split between U.S. and non-U.S. fund sponsors. We have private fund attorneys based in North America, Europe and Asia, to provide real-time advice to sponsors located in those regions.