Travers Smith

We are delighted to welcome Ryan Ayrton as an infrastructure debt partner in the Finance team, further strengthening our cross-practice Infrastructure Sector group, and we very much look forward to working with him. Read our press release: https://lnkd.in/g7UCBJGd

The BVCA has published its consultation in relation to a proposed update to the Walker Guidelines. This will involve a full root and branch review of the Guidelines to ensure that the aims of the Guidelines are being met, these being to ensure a commitment to transparency, and to provide data to allow a full understanding of the private equity industry's contribution to the UK economy.  Travers Smith is pleased to be working with the BVCA to support the consultation. We encourage those involved in the private equity industry to respond to the consultation to ensure that the Guidelines continue to drive meaningful and useful disclosures across the industry. 

Following the Court of Appeal's judgment in the Virgin Media case, our Q&As briefing looks at what might happen next, the circumstances in which other pension schemes may be affected, and what they should now be doing. The ruling concerned the validity of a rule amendment to a DB contracted-out pension scheme. The Court of Appeal upheld the High Court's decision that a written actuarial confirmation was required for amendments affecting future benefit accruals; not just for amendments affecting already accrued benefits. Without such confirmation, the amendment was ineffective. The potential consequences of the judgment in this case are severe but further developments might help the scheme and other schemes that have similar issues. #TraversSmithPensions #PensionsLaw #PensionsDR #Pensions

A challenging fundraising market has prompted all players to take a step back and re-evaluate not only the fundamentals of their business such as who they choose to invest in or with and on what terms, but also to seek out new and innovative practices or products.   Travers Smith's Tosin Adeyeri was joined by Elizabeth Fernando (Nest pensions), Jonathan Hillgarth-Williams (Clipway) and Merrick McKay (Patria Investments) at Travers Smith's Alternative Insights Summit for an insightful panel discussion that covered investing in private markets, from both a primary and secondary buyers' perspective.   Key takeaways:   - Given current capital constraints, LPs are being more selective in the GPs they choose to back and key determinants include managers with strong historic returns, a high-quality team, a diversified investor base and quality businesses, those that can demonstrate longevity at the heart of their decision-making process and the ability to navigate challenging times, particularly more recently. Whilst this may favour more established houses, even managers with several vintages are substantially unrealised, therefore, another key factor in the GP selection process is understanding the NAV attributed to unrealised assets and value creation. More sophisticated LPs are also focused on constructive portfolios, not only the largest managers with scale and platform.   - In a market that is arguably more favourable to investors, on one hand, fundraising sweeteners such as fee discounts and co-investment opportunities have become commonplace – however, it was noted that fee discounts often do not move the needle for LPs who are able to wait and evaluate the performance of the fund before deciding to put their money in). On the other hand, the slower climate has seen LPs increasingly focused on LPA terms they consider have become more GP friendly.   - The panellists shared a range of views on market innovations, including continuation vehicles and NAV facilities. On the former, the consensus is that they are here to stay although there will continue to be focus on the commercial rationale and robust processes, pricing, roll options, conflict management and GP alignment. On NAV facilities, whilst LPs can get comfortable with financing tools and will require transparency around the impact on their risks and returns, synthetic distribution presents a greater challenge for certain LPs who view it as an improper way to generate liquidity. - Looking ahead, diversification of the investor base and liquidity will play a key role in how fundraising conditions evolve and managers will continue to seek new and innovative ways to return distributions to investors, providing capital for re-commitment into new vintages. The panellists agreed that there needs to be a realignment of return expectations. Thank you to our panellists and all those who joined us for our third annual summit.   #AssetManagement #AlternativeInvestments #Markets

As part of today's statement by the Chancellor on public spending pressures, the government has made several announcements relating to tax. For more detail of the measures relating to carried interest taxation and reform of the current regime for non-doms please see our briefing: https://lnkd.in/eikCDvJ3 #Tax #CarriedInterest #NonDom

We recently concluded our ESG Academy, Sustainability Insights 2024, with our final session discussing trends in ESG litigation, regulation, and anti-trust risk. Over the course of eight fortnightly sessions, our experts shared their market-leading knowledge on a range of key ESG and sustainable finance topics, including:   Climate change Natural capital Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Human rights ESG reporting and metrics Corporate governance Stewardship and engagement by asset owners ESG litigation, regulation, and anti-trust risks   Recordings of all the sessions and accompanying materials are available to Travers Smith clients. To request these, please email esgacademy@traverssmith.com. #ESG #Sustainability #SustainabilityInsights

"What’s Happening in Pensions", our regular news briefing covering topical pensions law developments, is now available online with a short podcast summarising key recent developments. In this issue we look at: - What the new Labour Government has announced so far - Summaries of recent high-profile cases, including the Court of Appeal's judgment in the Virgin Media case - A new requirement for people complaining to the Pensions Ombudsman - New questions being added by the Pensions Regulator to this year's DC scheme return - A new interactive approach from the Pensions Regulator to the supervision of master trusts   Please note that this briefing went to press before the publication today of the Pensions Regulator's DB funding code of practice. Read or listen on our website: #TraversSmithPensions #Pensions #PensionsLaw

Disgruntled investors are increasingly taking advantage of the regime contained within the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) to seek compensation from issuers of publicly traded securities in the UK for losses suffered as a result of misleading or incomplete information disseminated to the market. In our recent round-up, we consider the FSMA regime in action, the factors contributing to the growth of UK securities litigation and the key issues and emerging trends that we are seeing and grappling with in this space.     Read the article, part of the 2024 edition of the Dispute Resolution Yearbook, here: https://lnkd.in/eMavVTc6

In this week's issue of Travers Smith's Alternative Insights, we are looking at trends in the private markets as discussed at our third annual Alternative Insights Summit in June. #AssetManagement #PrivateCapital #AlternativeAssetManagement Read or listen to the full issue on our website: https://lnkd.in/eDTn9jjQ

In a recent Travers Smith webinar, our derivatives experts discussed the incoming changes for EMIR 3.0, the primary derivatives regulation in the EU. Jonathan Gilmour (Partner, Head of Derivatives & Structured Products), Joseph Wren (Partner), Sana Dossa (Senior Associate) and Elinor Samuel (Associate), guide through the key aspects of EMIR 3.0 for buy-side entities, including: - When will EMIR 3.0 come into force? - How will the clearing threshold calculations change? - What are the new reporting requirements? - How are the rules around intra-group transactions changing? - What is the active account requirement and who will it apply to? - What steps should market participants be thinking about to prepare for the new obligations under EMIR 3.0? Watch the full webinar now https://lnkd.in/eeSxK7wS