Australia and the United States have much in common. We have a shared history, a common language, and a similar common law-based legal system governing a federated nation occupying a large land mass blessed with abundant natural and human resources. The United States is one of Australia’s greatest trading partners, and we welcome inward investment from the U.S. with most favoured nation trade terms. We also enjoy a friendship and strategic alliance that goes back over a century. So how does this play itself out in the fund financing space?
Scott Aleali and Jeff Maier appeared on a debut episode of “Fund Fanatics” this week, providing a fund finance market update. Scott also provided his “Fearless Four” fantasy football picks, and Jeff gave an update on the rookie football card market.
Luxembourg law firm Wildgen is hosting a Fund Finance Webinar on September 15 titled “State of the Market: Outlook of the Fourth Quarter.”
Private Equity International’s September issue focuses on secondaries and takes a look at how leverage is affecting secondary fund managers during COVID-19 and the liquidity solutions available to these managers. PEI also discusses with Partners Group’s Evelyn Zhang how COVID-induced market dislocation has created opportunities for secondary funds but that not all opportunities are created equally.
Whilst COVID-19 has undoubtedly presented many challenges to GPs, Mozaic Capital’s Solomon Owayda and Christine Patrinos discuss how secondary market innovations and, in particular, GP-led deals may be among the key tools that allow GPs to generate liquidity and ease the pressure to sell assets.
Real Deals reports on the types of funds that are coming to market and investors' sentiment as to where the real value lies.
Guillaume Leredde recently joined Avardi Partners as a Director. Guillaume previously worked as part of Deloitte’s debt and capital advisory team and has more than 13 years of experience in leveraged and corporate finance, having worked at Barclays, Moody’s and GE Capital.
Given the general economic uncertainty in today’s world and the recent market turmoil, we have seen private equity funds jostling to preserve and ensure future liquidity, albeit at a higher price than before. Similarly, in this volatile economic environment, parties to business transactions increasingly want more certainty that they will be paid. Letters of Credit (“LCs”), which are often included in revolving subscription credit facilities, provide borrowers with the ability to guarantee contracts with third parties, providing certainty to the beneficiary that they will be made whole. In light of the above, we thought it would be helpful to set out an introduction of LCs themselves, including what they are and how they fit into revolving subscription credit facilities.
The Fund Finance Association hosted a market update webinar on Wednesday with approximately 800 attendees. Led by Nick Mitra of Natixis and organized by Nick and Terry Hatton of MUFG, the webinar included a series of one-minute market updates from industry professionals across the globe and a fund formation data presentation from Dave Lowery at Preqin. Additionally, Jeff Johnston of Wells Fargo gave the closing remarks, which included the announcement of the FFA’s 2020 London and Asia conferences converting to virtual and being scheduled for the week of November 16th (specifics forthcoming).
In this week’s FFF: Industry Conversations, Jeff Nagle, a Cadwalader partner and member of our LIBOR Preparedness Team, teaches a SOFR 101 session. He covers all the high-level things you need to know, including how SOFR is actually calculated, how it differs from LIBOR, what its variations are and which are best, how margins will be impacted, what the expected market conventions are, and what comparable rates exist for non-dollar denominated loans. With the LIBOR phase-out date approaching, the session teaches the basics you need to know to be prepared for moving to SOFR benchmark rates. Additionally, Mack McDonald, CEO of Renaissance West Community Initiative, provides an update on the great work the non-profit is doing to tackle generational poverty with a holistic approach.
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