O’Melveny’s Investment Funds practice is a unified international practice with experienced lawyers in California, London, New York, Washington, DC, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Shanghai, and Singapore. We have an interdisciplinary approach to fund and investor representation and offer our clients in-depth expertise in the many areas of law impacting investment funds, including regulatory, tax and corporate/partnership matters.
Our team covers four major practice areas: (i) advising general partners on their fund raisings and also on the general partners’ own structures; (ii) advising major limited partners on their investments both into private equity and other alternative investment funds, and on their co-investments with funds; (iii) advising with respect to the sale or acquisition of investment advisors; and (iv) advising both buyers and sellers on secondary transactions.
We have worked across the full spectrum of investment fund product types, including funds focused on buyouts, growth equity, credit opportunity, distressed debt, venture capital, renewable energy, clean tech, secondary, real estate and infrastructure, as well as feeder funds, fund of funds, co-investment funds, permanent capital funds, and hedge funds. Similarly, we have represented fund clients with many different industry focuses, including media/entertainment/telecom, technology, consumer retail/service, energy/alternative energy, industrial, financial institutions/services, and health care.
Our Investment Adviser Regulation and Compliance team counsels clients on a broad range of regulatory and operational issues facing registered and unregistered investment advisers.
Although each of our core offices is staffed to provide our clients with full "one-stop" shopping on investment fund matters, the group often works together on projects where a global firm approach—such as information sharing across offices regarding trends in the global marketplace or addressing the specific legal or regulatory issues of a particular project—provides a client with the resources and know-how necessary to achieve a successful outcome.
What Others Say About Us
- O’Melveny was named “Private Equity Team of the Year” at the Legal Business Awards 2013.
- O’Melveny was voted “Fund Formation Law Firm of the Year” in Asia in the Private Equity International Awards in 2010 and 2011. In addition, O'Melveny was named as one of the top three law firms in Europe for fund formation work for two consecutive years (2009-2010).
- O’Melveny’s Hedge Funds Practice was recognized at the 2012 HFMWeek US Hedge Fund Services Awards in the category “Best onshore law firm—hedge fund start-ups.” Out of all the US firms, O’Melveny came in second place for advice related to hedge fund start-ups.
- Chambers UK says “This firm is well regarded in private equity secondaries,” and quotes a client who states that the team is “Very personable and attentive to our needs.” Chambers UK has recommended our practice for the last several years, commenting on our London team’s range of mandates and quoting a number of the Firm's clients, who report that O'Melveny is "[a] genuine competitor," "[i]t's ability to offer seamless US/UK advice as well as a wide Asian network is appealing," and "[t]he team remains cool and calm under considerable time pressures."
- Chambers USA recognizes our work in spinout transactions, and also states that our “global coverage has been integral to the development of the practice, which acts for US private equity sponsors and Asian private equity firms in a range of formations and structurings.”
- Chambers Asia ranks our Asia Investment Funds practice in several areas:
- In the Investment Funds (International Firms): China category, Chambers states that O’Melveny has one of the largest China-based investment fund practices that excels in renminbi investment funds work and “sources particularly commend its fund formation and regulatory expertise,” quoting a source that states O’Melveny is “A growing force in China.”
- In the Investment Funds (International Firms): Singapore category, Chambers ranks O’Melveny in the top tier, stating that “The firm is especially well known in the market for its handling of work relating to renminbi funds.”
- Legal 500 US comments that our team “works on the full spectrum of the private equity industry, with experience ranging from big buyout and middle-market funds to emerging markets products – the firm has particular strength in Asia-focused funds.”
- O’Melveny’s strong Asia practice has won Private Equity Market Lead Legal Advisor for four of the past five years by Zero2IPO, and VC/PE Foreign Fund Raising Legal Advisor of the Year 2010.
Key Facts
- O’Melveny’s client base of institutional investors and fund of funds includes some of the world’s most active investors in private investment funds (including CenturyLink Investment Managemnt, CDC Group plc, IDeA Capital, and Government of Singapore Investment Corporation).
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O’Melveny is a market leader in the Emerging Markets with a seamless team of fund formation lawyers in Asia, the US and London. For example, our team has recently handled a number of Turkish fundraisings where O’Melveny acted for a Turkish general partner, such as Turkven and Crescent Capital.
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O’Melveny maintains a market-leading position in assisting our clients towards setting up (and closing) their RMB Funds. O’Melveny worked on the first ever RMB Fund to obtain Ministry of Commerce approval, and at one point O’Melveny was involved in over 30% of foreign-backed RMB Funds announced in the market. O’Melveny’s depth of experience with RMB Funds and unmatched legal team (all of which are fluent in Mandarin) are distinguishing factors that set our practice apart from other firms.
Industry Reach
- Buyout
- Co-Investment Funds
- Credit Opportunity
- Distressed Investments
- Feeders/Fund of Funds
- Growth Equity
- Hedge Funds
- Infrastructure
- Permanent Capital
- Real Estate
- Renewable Energy/Clean Technology
- RMB Denominated Funds
- Secondary/Synthetic Secondary
- Venture Capital