The following individuals are on the move in the fund finance industry:

Fried Frank partners Adam Summers and Ariel Zell have been named Co-Heads of the firm’s Fund Finance Practice, underscoring their continued leadership in this rapidly evolving sector.

Adam maintains a broad and sophisticated practice, focusing on subscription credit facilities, NAV loans and asset financings for asset managers, including for private equity and debt funds. He represents fund managers and lenders in financings of management company fees and other assets. Adam also advises investment banks, investment managers, private credit funds, bank and non-bank lenders across a wide range of complex credit and financing structures, including collateralized fund obligations, rated note feeders, NAV financings, hybrid facilities, back leverage facilities and subscription credit facilities. Adam has been lead counsel on many large and complex credit arrangements for preeminent lenders for leveraged buyouts and other corporate loans. He is adept at helping clients understand and evaluate existing debt capital structures for acquisition targets and in negotiating commitment letters for acquisition financings.

Ariel represents financial sponsors in arranging debt financings for their private capital funds and hedge funds, including private credit funds, secondaries funds, private equity funds and infrastructure funds. He leads transactions across a wide range of complex credit and financing structures, including collateralized fund obligations, rated note feeders, NAV financings, hybrid facilities, back leverage facilities, subscription credit facilities and cash flow facilities. Ariel also represents financial sponsors in achieving liquidity solutions for their management companies and carry vehicles by way of private placements and loan arrangements. He is particularly skilled in financing of management fee, performance fee and GP commitment fee streams, and is a market leader in GP stake securitization notes offerings and financings.

Both Adam and Ariel are widely recognized as thought leaders in the fund finance market. They are frequently tapped to speak at industry conferences and regularly contribute articles on fund finance hot topics and issues to prestigious outlets. Most recently, Ariel discussed GP stakes deal considerations in a Q&A with Private Equity International, and Adam and Ariel together highlighted recent developments in fund finance in an article published by Law360. They have both spoken at many prestigious industry conferences over the years including those hosted by the American Bar Association Business Law Section, DealCatalyst, Fund Finance Association, LSEG and Strafford.

Fried Frank’s market-leading Fund Finance Practice is comprised of 10 partners and more than 40 special counsel and associates across the firm’s offices in New York, Washington, DC, and London. The firm is a leading advisor on a wide range of fund finance transactions, including commitments-based and NAV-based facilities, rated note feeders, collateralized fund obligations, securitizations and other bespoke secured and structured financings. The team’s expertise spans transaction sizes and asset classes, from debt assets and secondaries to renewable energy projects and real estate, making it a trusted partner for global asset managers. Since the beginning of 2019, Fried Frank has advised on over 200 fund finance transactions representing nearly $45 billion in lending commitments. Year-to-date, the firm's Fund Finance Practice has acted for private equity sponsors and asset managers in closing on over $4.5 billion of collateralized fund obligations, private equity-backed notes and rated note feeder commitments in the market’s most innovative and cutting-edge transactions.