Last Friday marked the launch of Wildgen’s new “Fund Finance” webinar series hosted by Wildgen’s own Michael Mbayi (Director). The series’ inaugural episode, titled “A Decade of Fund Finance,” features a panel of industry leaders: George Cherry (Managing Director, Citi Private Bank), Michael Mascia (Partner, Finance Co-Chair, Cadwalader), Paul Tannenbaum (Partner, Mayer Brown), and Olivier Vermeulen (Managing Partner Paris, Head of Finance, Paul Hastings). With the first episode aimed at examining Fund Finance over the last decade, the panel’s discussion provides both a cursory overview of the Fund Finance Industry and in-depth analysis of its recent evolution.
We have read reports that loose provisions in loan documents outside of the fund finance space have led to a recent uptick in disputes among parties, so lenders and borrowers in our sector should pay heed. While the fund finance market continues to prove resilient amid the turmoil of the global pandemic, now is as good a time as ever to stress-test key terms in existing subscription credit facility documentation to ensure they remain durable through economic dislocation.
In today’s video version of Fund Finance Friday: Industry Conversations, Tim Hicks, Partner at Cadwalader, provides a market update on the subscription facility sector, and Pramit Sheth, Managing Director at Kroll Bond Rating Agency, gives color on the types of fund finance transactions they are rating and what they are seeing in the market post-COVID. Additionally, Laura Clark, the CEO of the United Way of the Central Carolinas, discusses the tremendous uptick in community needs, what the United Way is doing to try and help our challenged neighbors from both a social justice and COVID response perspective, and how we can all contribute and help. Cadwalader’s Mike Mascia hosts.
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Conyers recently published an article, “The Cayman Islands Private Funds Law: A Pre-Summer Holiday Lender Checklist,” which lists practical lender due diligence items for prospective PF Law compliance and discusses the difference between filing and confirmation of registration.
This week Fund Finance Partners published an update on using management fee lines during the present crisis for working capital, support for GP commitments, and as a source of acquisition finance.
A few FFF editions ago, I described how the appetite for NAV-backed facilities had increased significantly across the private markets in a post-COVID world and how the structures of these facilities were becoming more flexible as they attracted the interest of larger managers, particularly in the primary private equity space. However, whilst facility terms and structures are evolving, the fundamental concept and benchmark underlying these transactions is the “loan to value” ratio. In this piece, I focus on how managers are valuing their portfolios, where there may be a disconnect between the usefulness of the valuation for investors on the one hand and financiers on the other, and where additional protections are being sought by lenders in the market underwriting new NAV-financings.
In today’s video version of Fund Finance Friday: Industry Conversations, Charlie Owens, Managing Director at Signature Bank, gives an update on what the bank is seeing and doing in the market currently; Ken Pierce, newly minted CEO of Lockton Capital Markets, describes the NAV-financing his firm is structuring and placing with insurance company lenders; and Cadwalader’s Sam Hutchinson gives an update on the European market, with a deep dive into the rapidly expanding and evolving NAV-lending space.
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Earlier this week the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) released follow-on guidance regarding the use of subscription facilities, titled “Enhancing Transparency Around Subscription Lines of Credit.” The guidance primarily focuses on GPs providing enhanced transparency around the outstanding balance of a fund’s subscription facility to enable investors to better forecast the amount of upcoming capital calls and manage their liquidity.
Tune in to Wildgen's Michael Mbayi as he hosts the first session of the newly launched “Fund Finance” webinar series. Panel members include industry leaders George Cherry (Citi Private Bank), Michael Mascia (Cadwalader), Paul Tannenbaum (Mayer Brown) and Olivier Vermeulen (Paul Hastings), focusing on the evolution of Fund Finance during the last decade and liquidity solutions it may provide during the COVID-19 pandemic.
BNP Paribas recently closed a milestone subscription credit facility – notable for implementing an ESG-driven pricing, the size of the facility and for being widely syndicated.