Hedge Funds, Private Equity Funds & Investment Management. Tech, Media & Venture Capital.
Riveles Wahab is a boutique law firm representing hedge and private equity funds, investment managers, startups, creative businesses, technology companies, and other ventures. We are dedicated to providing sophisticated, strategic and responsive counsel delivered in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Our attorneys thrive on finding innovative, high-value solutions to our clients’ unique challenges and watching their ventures succeed.
The New Change in ERISA’s “Fiduciary” Definition and its Effect on Private Fund Managers
After several years of debate and revision, a Department of Labor regulation, revising the definition of a “fiduciary” as it applied to investment managers, became applicable on June 9, 2017. The new regulation expands the definition of “fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, to encompass certain entities and persons which provide nondiscretionary investment advice to pension plans and to individual retirement accounts, with certain exemptions. The regulation introduces a new category, called “service fiduciaries,” under which fund managers and advisers could become subject to ERISA in connection with a pension plan or IRA’s “decision to invest” in the fund (or to “maintain such investment” in the fund), should the manager provide “investment advice” or “investment recommendations” directly to the pension plan or IRA holder. In essence, any communications to such investors that are designed to solicit investment or encouragement more of it may constitute “investment recommendations.”
Basics of Warrant Coverage Terms
In order to induce “investment” of valuable dollars or services, ranging from cash investment under a Regulation D Private Placement Offering, or on the flipside, the efforts of a trusted advisor/accelerator/incubator, so-called “warrant coverage” is often part of the deal. “Warrant Coverage” is designed to further persuade an investor or service provider to participate in an investment opportunity by providing the investor or service provider additional opportunity to leverage the company upside, as it grows in value. While less commonly used than a variety of other deal “sweeteners”, they are a significant feature in the investment landscape. The following provides a high-level summary of the typical negotiated deal points for warrants.
Corporate Structuring and Fundraising for Single Purpose Vehicles
What do securities syndications and fundraising for real estate, restaurant ventures, film ventures, theme parks and a variety other project finance opportunities have in common? The answer is simply the often overlooked and misunderstood “SPV.” Essentially, the SPV or “Single Purpose Vehicle” is an entity that is structured to take in investor monies towards funding a singular dedicated project or opportunity. Indeed, a great majority of real estate finance projects, and a variety of other project finance opportunities essential to the U.S. economy, are at least partly funded by SPVs. Furthermore, with the advent of crowdfunding and “general solicitation” under the JOBS Act, the SPV’s role in financing a variety of projects and operating companies cannot be overstated.