Hedge Fund Formation and Advice

Schwartz serves as counsel to various participants in the hedge fund industry, including offshore mutual funds, hedge funds, funds-of-funds, fund administrators, fund sponsors, private investors, independent asset management firms and financial institutions.  We organize private investment funds, unit trusts, SICAVs and similar investment products for offer offshore, in foreign markets or in the   We provide tax, corporate and securities advice to their sponsors.  Private investment funds are at the core of our securities practice.

Schwartz has close working relationships with counsel, fund administrators and auditors in leading financial centers and fund domiciles, including the British Virgin Islands ("BVI"), Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Bahamas, Ireland, Luxembourg, Guernsey and Cyprus.   We also have long-established relationships with prime brokers and custodians.

Recent assignments for offshore funds have included:

·       Advising a BVI fund of funds in its delisting from the Irish Stock Exchange and updating its Information Memorandum.

·       Advising the sponsor of a BVI private fund on securities law aspects of a private offering shares to investors.

·       Advising a BVI fund on the creation of a new class of shares using the BVI's new segregated portfolio company law.

·       Advising an offshore fund-of-funds on securities law restrictions on investments in other investment companies and publicly traded companies under Rule 12(d)(1) of the U.S. Investment Company Act and Rule 13(d) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Act.

·       Advising a proprietary trading firm on structuring its operations as a hedge fund.

We work with local counsel to register investment funds and fund managers under local laws or qualify them under exemptions from such laws.  We advise fund advisers and investment managers on the full range of securities laws applicable to their business (see "Broker Dealers, Investment Banks and Derivatives Dealers" below).  We also advise fund sponsors on structuring funds and financial products to comply with socially responsible investing charters.