Funds: Private Equity, Hedge and All Core Structures

Chapter 1

Introduction to Funds

1.1 WHY THIS BOOK?

I have sought to write the manual I always wanted to find on the shelves. In my career as both an asset manager and a legal adviser to asset managers and investors, I have often been asked to recommend a guide that covers the broad ambit of fund and manager structures.

In the world of asset management, knowledge is often assumed, jargon is sometimes opaque and there can be a tendency towards mystification. Frequently, for example, I am asked ‘What is market?’, and certainly one possible answer to that question is that ‘market’ means whatever is investment worthy at that particular moment in time and given the particular investment: following the money has, after all, always been a plausible strategy. However, in these fast changing times where the industry is being required to adapt to survive, it is more crucial than ever to understand the logic behind the structures that have come to dominate this sector.

Broadly, these pages are intended to function as a guide to all things funds and fund managers. Although approached principally from a United Kingdom (UK), United States (US) and European Union (EU) perspective, this book also references other core fund establishment locations, as well as core economic or asset jurisdictions such as China and Japan. The book approaches its subject from a structural, legal, tax and regulatory perspective. It is, however, a guide and not an in-depth review. The latter would require a number of ...