Carey Olsen and Northern Trust support GMT Communications Partners' launch of innovative Private Investment Fund
The new PIF structure, introduced by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission at the end of 2016, aims to significantly reduce the cost and processing time for launching a fund and provides fund managers with greater flexibility and simplicity.
“The advantage of using a Guernsey PIF is that it significantly reduces the cost and processing time for launching a fund,” said Christopher Anderson, partner at Carey Olsen. “For GMT Communications Partners, we were also able to use our knowledge of the recent registration of the first PIF resulting in a smooth approval and transaction process.”
Working collaboratively with Northern Trust, Guernsey law firm Carey Olsen advised on the launch. Partner Christopher Anderson led the team, with senior associates Matthew Brehaut and John Scanlan, and associate Colin Calvert. Weil, Gotshal & Manges acted for the client on English law matters.
“This is one of the many kinds of innovative fund structures suited to Guernsey’s flexible and pragmatic approach to financial regulation and highly developed professional support infrastructure,” said Belinda Burgess, head of Northern Trust in Guernsey. “As Guernsey’s largest fund administrator and custodian*, we are delighted about the opportunities this new fund regime presents for our clients.”
The private equity fund will be administered from Northern Trust’s Guernsey office where it provides a range of fund administration solutions, banking, global custody, depositary, credit and fiduciary services to investment managers worldwide and across the spectrum of asset classes. Recently, Northern Trust, in collaboration with IBM, announced the launch of the first commercial deployment of blockchain technology for the private equity market.
“We have been working with Northern Trust as a fund administrator for more than 17 years and their collaborative and insightful approach helped us launch this new Guernsey investment vehicle,” said Ashley Long at GMT Communications Partners.
“Their extensive experience, high quality service and support enabled us to be at the forefront of industry developments.”
*By total net assets. Source: Monterey Insight’s Guernsey Fund Report, October 2016.
