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Asset Management & Investment Funds

Our Asset Management & Investment Funds department is recognised for delivering the highest quality work with an exceptionally strong service mentality.

We are business focused, commercial and pragmatic in our approach and this is why William Fry continues to be the firm of choice for significant and complex fund transactions in Ireland.

Our leading position reflects our strength, in-depth industry expertise, market leading legal knowledge base, the experience of our team at all levels, as well as the calibre of our clients and the transactions on which we advise.

We are one of the largest dedicated asset management and investment funds teams in Ireland.
Our team represents 650 Irish domiciled funds, and we are the sole legal advisors to 6 of the 10 largest fund structures by AUM domiciled in the jurisdiction, maintaining our long-standing ranking among the top legal advisors to Irish domiciled funds.
We are known for our ‘Blue Chip’ client base, advising 3 of the top 6 promoters of Irish domiciled funds by AUM (including the largest), as well as a number of the most significant global fund service providers.
We offer unrivalled expertise at all fee earner levels in structuring, establishing and advising ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), acting as longstanding legal advisors to the world’s largest ETF provider.
We are consistently at the forefront of legal/regulatory, solutions-focused innovation, leading the way in the provision of cutting-edge legal advice within the Irish Funds sector, having advised on:
- a number of significant passporting applications to establish branches of Irish fund management companies in various EU jurisdictions during the early stages of Brexit which inspired re-assessment of the potential for expanded functionality in Irish-domiciled fund management companies
- the creation of a single settlement model permitting settlement of ETFs within the international central securities depositary (ICSD) system for the first time and the conversion of the first ETFs to use this new settlement model
- the establishment of the first proprietary Authorised Participant dealing platform for all primary market trading owned and operated by the ETF provider, outside of the Administrator’s network
- the establishment of the first Irish-domiciled money market fund
- the first conversion of a fund from Plc to ICAV status
- the first property ICAV, life settlement fund, loan origination fund and various share class structures to the Irish market
We have a deep understanding and knowledge of the sector with a proven track record of delivering business focused, commercial and pragmatic solutions. We pride ourselves on maintaining strong and trusted bonds with clients over the longer-term, evidencing consistent satisfaction with the quality of legal service delivery.

Vincent Coyne

Partner

James Phelan

Partner

Patricia Taylor

Consultant

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Experience

Recent significant deals include advising:

a range of leading global and domestic UCITS and AIF providers on compliance with the significant prospectus and website disclosure obligations imposed by the Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation (SFDR) Level 2 measures which took effect on 1 January 2023.
BlackRock on the establishment of a comprehensive range of highly publicised ETFs with an ESG/SRI focus on their flagship iShares platforms, which consists of over 350 ETFs over seven separate UCITS ETF platforms.
Mercer on all aspects of its legal and regulatory obligations applicable to its full range of Irish authorised schemes including two retail umbrella (UCITS) platforms, two qualifying investor (QIAIF) umbrella platforms and one professional investor fund (PIF) platform on an extensive reclassification project whereby a suite of funds were transitioned to become sustainable funds under the SFDR.
Irish Residential Properties REIT plc (IRES REIT) on the regulatory aspects of insourcing the management of IRES REIT.
Legal & General Investment Management on the establishment of the first newly established ETF tracking “EU Paris-aligned” benchmark indices.

Areas of Expertise

All of our team’s practitioners work exclusively on funds matters and our Partners are all recognised industry leaders in their field. We currently serve on ten separate Irish Funds working groups responsible for raising and developing Ireland’s profile as a leading fund domicile, including:

Legal &Regulatory
Sustainable Finance
Asset Management Regulation
Depositary
UCITS Innovation & Regulation
Product Distribution (covering principal markets for product distribution)
Investment Limited Partnership legislative reform

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Banking & Finance

Tax

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Additional Offerings

In addition to having one of the largest legal teams dedicated to asset management and investment funds-related matters, William Fry is also known for providing perhaps the most rounded of all relevant offerings within the Dublin market with our Asset Management and Investment Funds Department also including:

a dedicated Funds Company Secretarial team (consisting of 5 full-time professionals, including some of the most senior Funds Company Secretaries available in the Dublin market);
a sophisticated Global Fund Registrations Solutions service (led by Marion Mellett); and
an Irish Stock Exchange Listing Sponsor team.

London Office

From our London office, we advise international clients on the establishment and the ongoing regulation of funds in Ireland.

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Practice Areas

Asset Management & Investment Funds

Our Asset Management & Investment Funds department is recognised for delivering the highest quality work with an exceptionally strong service mentality.

Key Contacts

Vincent Coyne

James Phelan

Patricia Taylor

London Office

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