Today marks the 100th edition of Fund Finance Friday.
Round numbers are cool. And I have never shied away from celebrating the little milestones or, for that matter, celebrating Fridays (or Tuesdays). When we started FFF around two years ago, it was born out of a combination of frustration and fun. I was frustrated with how the press covered fund finance (um, well, that hasn’t completely changed) and around how there wasn’t a resource you could check out to keep informed about our industry. The PE folks had dozens of daily (sometimes annoyingly frequent) newsletters, the securitization folks read Asset-Backed Alert, and my team had, well, nothing? I sorta think fund finance isn’t nothing. I mean, we do things, sometimes anyway, right? We needed a resource.
In this week’s Fund Finance Friday: Industry Conversations, Jeff Maier joins Mike Mascia and discusses demand and deal structures for management fee lines and GP facilities.
Bill Ackman, the CEO and Portfolio Manager of Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P., will give the keynote address at this year’s Finance Forum. Ackman is also the Chairman and CEO of Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, Ltd., a newly organized SPAC that raised $4 billion in its initial public offering in July, making it the largest SPAC IPO in history. The Finance Forum takes place virtually on the afternoon of November 12th.
Vice President, Financial Institutions North America | Lloyds Bank
The Diversity in Fund Finance group hosted its first virtual open happy hour session on Tuesday. After three years of primarily focusing on one of our goals – to educate and connect with students addressing the lack of a diverse pipeline in our industry – we were excited to kick off our efforts in building an affinity network to engage with the broader FFA community. About 30 members of various backgrounds attended, sharing feedback on things organizations are doing well, some changes that organizations are implementing, and things they would like to see happen. Following are some key takeaways from our session.
The Fund Finance Association and its Next Gen Network this week announced and requested nominations for the “Rising Stars” Awards. Award recipients should have less than 10 years of fund finance experience and will be selected based on their outstanding overall contributions to the Fund Finance industry, their firms and their clients, the FFA, the Next Gen Network and/or WFF, with an emphasis on professional contributions focused on excellence in client service, product and service innovations, diversity and inclusion, career development, training and mentoring, networking and community service. Nominations are due November 20, 2020.
The U.S. chapter of FFA Next Gen, in partnership with Clifford Chance, held its first virtual panel session earlier this week titled “‘New Normal’ in New York Real Estate.” Attendees heard from expert panelists, including Ronald Dickerman, Madison International Realty; David Toledano, Mizuho Securities; and Jeanne Roig-Irwin, Clifford Chance Real Estate Team, and the session was moderated by Leah Edelboim, Clifford Chance Banking and Finance/Fund Finance Team. Following are some key takeaways.
Scott Aleali and Jeff Maier produced another edition of “Fund Fanatics” on LinkedIn last week, featuring a guest appearance by Matthew Barbato of Hamilton Lane.
Private Equity International published an article titled “NAV facilities’ potential in emerging markets.” The article explores the benefits NAV facilities provide for funds in emerging markets. It also highlights risks particular for these facilities, such as exposure to local currency and financial covenants.
Tune back in to “ESG Fund Finance,” the fourth session of Wildgen’s Fund Finance Webinar Series hosted by Michael Mbayi. Michael is joined by industry leaders Vicky Du (Standard Chartered), Guillaume Ferrer (Credit Agricole CIB), Jonathan Harvey (Investec), and Katie McMenamin (Travers Smith) as they discuss ESG-linked subscription credit facilities and other ESG-focused fund finance solutions.