Investment Funds

Investment fund sponsors and their investors know that successful fundraising and successful fund investing require the assistance of experienced lawyers who know where "the market" is and where it is going, and who are able to advise their clients on a broad–and ever-changing–array of legal and regulatory issues affecting investment funds. The O'Melveny Investment Funds practice provides exactly this kind of service to its long and growing list of investment fund clients, including fund sponsors such as Apollo Management, CCMP Capital, Freeman Spogli, and Insight Venture Partners, and fund investors such as Coller Capital and Government of Singapore. Our sponsor-side client list includes established investment firms that have raised one or more prior funds, as well as select first time funds.

Our Investment Funds practice is one of the largest fund practices in the world, with lawyers worldwide focused on the key areas of law affecting investment funds, including corporate law, partnership law, tax, ERISA and U.S. and non-U.S. securities laws. We are a truly global practice, with lawyers located in New York, California, London and Asia who have experience working with investment funds investing in the United States and North America, Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, India, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and other emerging markets. 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.

Our practice is not only geographically diverse, it is also varied in terms of our fund product experience. We have worked across the full spectrum of investment fund product types, including funds focused on buyouts/growth equity, credit opportunity/distressed investments, venture capital, 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 funds focused on investments in industrial companies, consumer retail & service businesses, energy/alternative energy companies, financial institutions/service businesses, technology companies, health care companies, and media/entertainment/telecom companies.

We believe that our extensive representation of top-flight fund sponsors and investors, our integrated global footprint, and our extensive experience across fund products provides us with "360-degree" vision on the terms, trends, and law driving the investment fund marketplace. We use this vision daily in delivering innovative, pragmatic, and commercial solutions to our clients' most complex business and legal requirements. In doing so, we provide today's fund client with what it needs most: global reach, local strength, superior results.

What Others Say About Us

• O’Melveny was voted “Fund Formation Law Firm of the Year” in Asia in the Private Equity International Awards 2010.  In addition, O'Melveny was named as one of the top three law firms in Europe for fund formation work for the second consecutive year.  For the past nine years, the readers of the prestigious Private Equity International and PEI Asia publications have chosen winners across a number of topics without input from the editors or the law or private equity firms themselves.
• 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

Industry Reach

• Buyout/Growth Equity
• Co-Investment Funds
• Credit Opportunity/Distressed Investments
• Feeders/Fund of Funds
• Hedge Funds 
• Infrastructure
• Permanent Capital
• Real Estate
• Renewable Energy/Clean Technology
• RMB Denominated Funds
• Secondary/Synthetic Secondary  
• Venture Capital