One of the best things about the FFA Global symposium is the opportunity to see and speak with so many members of the fund finance industry, including our wonderful clients. This year we rolled out a new concept, Fund Finance Friday Studios, which are recorded interviews with some of the most exciting and influential players in fund finance. Here are some of those conversations and we look forward to rolling out more of them soon. We thank everyone who participated and look forward to continuing this initiative and to speaking with more of you in the coming weeks and months ahead. Tune in here.
Cadwalader’s own fund finance partner Brian Foster moderated one of the four panels focused on NAV financing at this year’s Global Symposium, evidencing the growing relevance of NAV products in the fund finance market. The panel, titled “Secondaries and Continuations,” brought together a group of industry experts to discuss developments in the Secondaries market and the opportunities and challenges facing that market.
The panel on governance, underwriting and due diligence featured seasoned bankers Gino De Bernardo (Comerica), Mike Henry (US Bank) and Guy Simpson (Bridge Bank), experienced lawyers Anthony Pirraglia (Loeb & Loeb) and Joe O’Donnell (Morrison Foerster), and accomplished fund professional Mary Jo Sanderson (Värde Partners). The clear takeaway of this session was that strong relationships with sponsors, advance preparation, thorough and extensive due diligence on investors, the limited partnership agreement and side letters, and clear and comprehensive term sheets have proven to be best practices in deal execution of a lending facility to a private equity fund.
Against the backdrop of a changing landscape of fund finance providers and products, this session made for an insightful discussion of the challenges and opportunities our market faces. On the panel were Ana Arsov (Managing Director at Moody’s Investor Services), Mike Durnin (Principal at Ares Management), Greg Fayvilevich (Head of Global, Funds Group at Fitch Ratings), Ron Franklin (Partner at Proskauer), Marc Silva (Global Head of Private Equity Subscription & Partner Finance at UBS) and Sherri Snelson (Partner at White & Case).
Société Générale's Laurie Lawler did a wonderful job moderating last week’s panel titled “The Evolving Lender Landscape & Impacts on Balance Sheet Management.” The panel focused on the changing lender landscape, balance sheet management, and the entrance of non-bank lenders into the fund finance market.
The past year has seen a challenging environment for the balance sheet of many banks. The ability for a bank to sell and assign their commitments in fund finance facilities has therefore increased in importance. In the Syndication Update panel in Miami, panelists convened to discuss the latest trends in these efforts.
The 2023 edition of the Fund Finance Association’s annual conference was again filled with interesting insights from a wide range of industry participants and leaders. The panel titled “Market Evolution & Industry Perspectives” was no exception, bringing together a panel which included bankers, attorneys and fund managers.
One distinct and lasting memory that I have of law school is the feeling that I was being let in on a secret. Through the (hundreds of) cases that we read and our other coursework, we were learning about how the world really worked. At the FFA's Symposium in Miami last Thursday, I got that same feeling of being let in on a secret about the way things really work at one of its final panels: “A Geopolitics Discussion with Pippa Malmgren.”
As the private equity and fund finance markets continue to expand with new, innovative products, collateralized fund obligation transactions, or CFOs, are becoming increasingly popular. A panel of experts discussed the nuances of constructing CFOs, from the asset-based lending nature of the rated notes that underpin these deals to the complexity of cash flows, liquidity needs and legal considerations.
In Case You Missed It: A re-post from last week's FFF issue.
Coming off of the close of a badly bruised broadly syndicated loan market in 2022, it is no surprise that the global Fund Finance Association kicked off its 12th annual conference in Miami with a conversation with the “Titans in Finance” − Jonathan Bock, Senior Managing Director, Co-CEO of BCRED and BXSL, Head of Market Research, Blackstone Credit; Ken Kencel, President and CEO of Churchill Asset Management; and Art Penn, Founder and Managing Partner of PennantPark Investment Advisers. The panel was moderated by Jocelyn Hirsch, Partner at Kirkland & Ellis, and Nick Mitra, Managing Director at Societe Générale.