Reed Smith's alternative investments practice is global and multi-disciplinary. Starting with fund formation, structuring, and tax advice, we counsel sector clients in all aspects of their operations throughout their life cycle. Given the firm's broad global practices, our alternative investments industry clients enjoy not only the core matter counseling from the Investment Management Group and our corporate, debt finance, tax and securities practices, but also the experience of other groups focused on bankruptcy, enforcement defense and litigation, technology transfer and licensing, data privacy, banking, real estate, and key industries such as healthcare, life sciences, energy and alternative energy, media, film and telecommunications, and physical commodities.
We regularly represent private equity firms, hedge funds, venture capital funds, financial institutions, banks, portfolio managers, and equity fund investors including major pension funds. Also among our clients are businesses that attract private equity investment, operating in industry sectors such as energy, telecommunications, biotechnology, life sciences, health care and consumer goods.
Our lawyers provide skilled support throughout the life cycle of private investment, including:
- Formation of private equity funds
- Investment transactions
- Portfolio company purchase and sale transactions
- Regulatory compliance
- Acquisition financing transactions
- Corporate counsel and compliance, including governance issues and executive compensation
Advising Private Funds, Advisers and Investors
Reed Smith advises clients on a cross-border basis in fund formation, tax structuring, securities regulation and investment. We advise managers in the United States and the United Kingdom in registering with the SEC, CFTC and FSA, and in developing meaningful regulatory compliance and corporate governance programs. We stand ready to help clients respond to all areas of financial regulatory reform on a real time basis.
We advise fund managers with the establishment and ongoing operation of a wide range of alternative investment funds, including hedge funds, private credit funds, private equity funds and real estate funds. We also act for major institutional investors in the United States and abroad, including public and private pension plans, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds.
We offer experience-based counseling throughout the life-cycle of a fund, including:
- Manager establishment
- Fund formation
- Marketing and investor relations
- Financing
- Negotiating service provider relationships
- Investment
- Regulatory registration and compliance
- Fund restructuring
- Dissolution
Advising Private Fund Transactions and Operations
Our private equity team of 60 transactional lawyers in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East works closely with colleagues skilled in tax, securities, intellectual property, employment and benefits, corporate governance and compliance, and other areas of law important to fund managers.
Our experience extends to all types of private equity transactions, including those involving minority and majority interests, mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, spin-outs, carve-outs, outsourcing, real estate, cross-border transactions, and emerging markets activities. We represent investors and issuers in the full range of financing options through public and private capital and credit markets, particularly issuances of common stock, preferred stock, senior secured debt, mezzanine debt, subordinated notes, warrants, and all other types of debt and equity offerings, including initial public offerings.
We are proud to be ranked by Private Equity Analyst as among the top 30 firms in terms of the number of private equity and venture capital deals negotiated and closed.
Real Estate Investment Trusts Practice
As Real Estate Investment Trusts have earned their place among mainstream investment vehicles, Reed Smith has built a national reputation for representing REITs and similar entities in every area of the business. Our REIT team comprises lawyers throughout our offices who focus substantial portions of their practices on serving real estate investment clients in securities, business transactions and corporate matters, real estate and finance, tax, and other areas.
Our clients include publicly traded and non-traded public REITs, with investments across the country in warehouse and distribution centers, other industrial complexes, long-term care facilities, office buildings, shopping malls and shopping centers, and other types of properties.
Firm lawyers have an in-depth understanding of the real estate investment business - from front-end investment to securitization. We serve as general counsel to innovative industry leaders. Our lawyers have helped structure deals involving creative tax solutions and novel securitization arrangements.
We leverage our firmwide concentrations in health care, financial services and other areas to provide cutting-edge advice to REIT clients. With one of the largest investment management practices in the country, we offer sophisticated support in the creation of investment products and compliance with securities and investment regulation.
We go beyond addressing individual issues to create whole business solutions. With our extensive industry knowledge, we serve as more than legal counsel to our clients - we become trusted business advisors.
Advising Fund Administrators, Custodians and Other Service Providers
Reed Smith's Investment Management Group provides a full spectrum of legal representation to clients in the financial services industries, including substantial experience representing fund administrators and other asset servicing firms. We have provided such firms with advice in connection with such matters as managed account platform and other product development, compliance program development, administrative services benchmarking, mergers and acquisitions, exposure assessment and mitigation in the event of industry bankruptcies, insurance coverage audits and negotiation, and state and local tax advice.