Here's a look at what we're reading outside the four corners of fund finance.
In today’s FFF: Industry Conversations, we added video and connected with a host of fund finance market participants. Nick Mitra of Natixis joins to give a market update, Tina Meigh of the Maples Group provides an update on the Fund Finance Association, Rory Smith of Brickfield Recruiting offers observations on the hiring market, and Jeff Nagle of Cadwalader summarizes the best practices for LIBOR transition proposed by the ARRC last week. In addition, we feature a short but important discussion with Leslie Gordon, President & CEO of Food Bank For New York City, on the growing hunger challenges presented by COVID-19. Cadwalader’s Mike Mascia hosts and also provides some data from our practice for 2020-to-date to try and forecast transaction volumes for the summer.
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The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ("SDNY") held that certain syndicated loans sold to institutional investors are not "securities" and rejected claims of violations of federal and state securities laws.
We have two timely articles from Luxembourg law firm SJL Jimenez Lunz this week. In the first article, SJL proposes a quick starting checklist that lenders can run through during COVID-19 lockdowns to determine whether the legal documentation for existing deals is up-to-date or needs to be addressed. In the second, SJL discusses the Professional Guarantee Draft Bill, which has been introduced to the Luxembourg Parliament. This bill introduces a Luxembourg-law-governed guaranty that can be used in security packages for cross-border financing without the risk of requalification.
Family offices increased borrowing against private equity holdings in Q1 to access capital for investment opportunities during the market dislocation, according to intel from UBS summarized by Institutional Investor.
Is the asset class immune to economic downturn? As the pandemic affects the world economy, general partners are in need of capital to support portfolio investments and take advantage of new opportunities. However, today versus a decade ago, GPs are in a better position to weather the storm and are exploring more creative funding tactics to bridge the liquidity gap, according to an article in PitchBook.
Secondaries Investor analyzes how a decline in second-quarter valuations could impact the SPV-leverage market. While banks are healthy, a temporary decrease in lenders participating in the SPV-lending market could lead to secondaries portfolios trading at lower prices and large buyers sitting out the action.
Bond funds and ETFs are experiencing massive inflows, a green shoot for the fundraising environment in the second half.
As I write, Geoff Woolf, one of my former colleagues and partners who I have always regarded as a mentor, is severely ill with COVID-19. We have written a lot in many recent editions of Fund Finance Friday about the impact of this awful virus on our world, the economy and Fund Finance in all its aspects, but underlying all of that, of course, are the innumerable ripples being felt by so many people around the world at this time as their families, friends and colleagues are impacted.
Melanie Herald, Managing Director, Head of Alternative Lending at State Street, joins Cadwalader’s Mike Mascia in this week’s podcast edition of Fund Finance Friday: Industry Conversations. Melanie discusses her role at State Street and her team’s market focus in fund finance. She also discusses the impact of COVID-19 on her team’s business, as well as that of the bank’s clients, and forecasts how the market is likely to evolve as a result of the disruption.