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Investment management

Our integrated legal and tax teams offer a one-stop shop for forming, managing and investing in funds. We have helped some of the world’s most successful fund managers, sponsors and investors to navigate complex cross-border legal, regulatory and tax issues.

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From sponsor and investor representation, regulatory filings and tax solutions, through its offices located around the globe, we offer a multi-practice, comprehensive service to investors and fund managers in the ever-changing regulatory climate.

We have advised some of the most successful fund managers, sponsors and investors, navigate complex cross-border legal, regulatory and tax issues to ensure their continuation of success.

We provide legal, regulatory and tax advice on the entire lifecycle of open-end and closed-end funds, and have the resources needed to handle all types and sizes of transactions. One of our key differentiators is our market-leading international tax advisory team that is highly proficient in structuring global and regional funds, using global tax treaties and regimes to achieve optimal tax efficiency for our clients. Our integrated legal and tax teams provide a unique ‘one-stop’ shop for all your legal and tax needs in forming, managing and investing your fund.

Our integrated team of senior funds partners are based in the major financial and capital raising hubs of Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles and London. The team specializes in the legal, regulatory and international tax advisory aspects of fund structuring, marketing, formation, management, financing, disposing and investing. Our experience spans across a wide range of jurisdictions, practices, industry sectors and funds types.

Working with our corporate, financing and real estate investment partners across 18 offices globally, we routinely advise on complex private equity, real estate and M&A transactions, as well as focusing on compliance and regulatory needs in various jurisdictions.

Regardless of your investment strategy and profile, our firm’s breadth of resources allows us to deliver solutions that are tailored to your fund activities across the world.

Fund types we work with:

Private equity funds
Hedge fund
Venture funds
Real estate funds
Fund of funds
Private investment in public equity funds (PIPE funds)
Special purpose acquisition (SPAC funds)
Cryptocurrency funds
Insurance dedicated funds (IDF funds)
Hybrid funds / opportunity funds
Media and entertainment funds
Art funds
Commodity pools
EB-5 funds
Life settlement funds
Debt funds
Litigation finance funds

<< Financial services regulatory

Clients include

Koji is one of the true financial regulatory specialists that operate in the Tokyo legal market and has an exceptional experience and technical knowledge of Japanese financial regulations and investment funds.

Chambers Asia Pacific

Koji is the go to person for foreign asset managers in Japan. He is an expert for Japanese regulatory requirements but also has a good grasp of overseas, especially US, regulatory rules, which is quite unique. He is very commercial and can communicate complex regulatory issues and what impact they have on a business in a simple and concise manner.

Head of Compliance, Asia Pacific - one of Europe's leading asset managers

We have relied on Eric and his team for nearly twenty years. The team is excellent and we have been completely satisfied with their work.

PAG Real Estate

I have always found their style and approach to be thoughtful, insightful, effective and efficient with the experience to provide the highest level of legal service allowing us to make informed decisions.

J L McCarrey III, Senior Vice President - McKinley Capital

Track record

Establishment of two Singapore-domiciled fund vehicles

Advised on the establishment of two Singapore-domiciled fund vehicles, the EFA Real Economy Income Trust and the EFA Financial Institutions Debt Fund.

Investment in energy management company NaviX Solutions

Represented EDB New Ventures on the incubation of and on the investment in energy management company NaviX Solutions, alongside energy and automation multinational Schneider Electric.

Singapore regulatory advice

Advised Nuveen's Singapore office on Singapore regulatory advice in its capacity as a licensed fund manager in Singapore.

Advising on Japan regulatory issues

Represented Monex, Inc. as lead and Japan counsel to establish a fund in the Cayman Islands and advised on related Japan regulatory issues

Global venture capital fund

Representing a global venture capital fund as the Japan counsel in relation to all Japan financial regulatory activities with a fund size of US$550 million

Leading alternative investment management firm

Representing a leading alternative investment management firm with approximately US$473 billion in assets under management and supervision as Japan fund counsel for all of the firm's funds offered into Japan.

Leading investment firm

Representing an investment firm with approximately US$105 billion in assets under management as Japan fund counsel for all of the firm's funds which are offered into Japan.

One of the world’s largest investment managers

Represented one of the world’s largest investment managers (US$989 billion AUM) as Japan counsel to successfully register to engage in a discretionary investment management business, investment advisory and agency business and Type 2 Financial Instruments Trading Business

International investment management firm

Represented an international investment management firm in a Series C round investment in a leading Chinese smart electric vehicle by subscribing Series C preferred shares for a total consideration of US$15,000,000.

International investment management firm

Represented an international investment management firm in its investment in a Beijing-based developer of an open-source, distributed SQL database for real-time analytics by purchasing Series D preferred shares for a total consideration of US$30,000,000.

Draper Esprit on US$60M Series B funding of FintechOS

Advising Draper Esprit on the US$60 million Series B funding of FintechOS, a leading European fintech whose technology dramatically reduces the time it takes for financial institutions to build end-to-end digital products.

A private equity fund

We advised on the acquisition of a popular preschool and English enrichment centre chain in Singapore.

Lead tax advisor in over 20 transactions

in various asset classes, private equity, real estate, and alternative investments, from Singapore into Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand.

Lead tax advisor in over 20 transactions

in various asset classes, private equity, real estate, and alternative investments, from Singapore into Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand.

Asian Sovereign fund

Acting for a sovereign fund (seller) with regard to disposal of all their shares in a BVI company to Middle Eastern HNWIs.

$70M investment to fund partnership with Nike

Acted for ETF Partners, who led a $70M investment into E-Leather, a UK-based company developing patented high-tech materials technology. This Series C funding is for their partnership with Nike to develop the Flyleather line.

$10,000,000 Series A venture funding round

Withers acted for risk intelligence start up Arachnys on their $10M Series A venture funding round led by QED Investors, alongside other investors.

$10,500,000 Series D venture funding round

Withers acted for Festicket Ltd on their $10.5M Series D venture funding round led by Beringea, with additional investors including InMotion Ventures, Channel 4's Commercial Growth Fund, Lepe Partners, U-Start and ex Spinnin' Records CEO Eelko Van Kooten.conversation. Better conversation, in turn, leads to stronger community and connection.

$22,000,000 Series B venture funding round

Withers acted for London based open source security company Snyk on their $22M Series B venture funding round led by Accel, with additional investors including Boldstart Ventures, GV and Heavybit.

£30,000,000 Series A venture funding round investment into Cazoo

Withers acted for the investors into online used car marketplace Cazoo Limited on their £30,000,000 Series A venture funding round with investors including Delin Ventures, Entrée Capital, Octopus Ventures, and Stride VC and dmg ventures.

US micro-venture capital fund

Formation and private offering of a US micro-venture capital fund focusing on the business-to-business digital marketplace and advice on its investments in three portfolio companies: a platform providing athletes and parents with a suite of online tools to streamline the recruiting process; a platform providing restaurants with a trained food delivery staff and system as well as an app which communicates orders received by restaurants; and a platform that allows manufacturers and distributors in the IT sector to communicate with resellers of their products.

Windup of real estate fund

Handle sale out of multiple apartment assets owned by an offshore fund, together with windup of entity. Windup and liquidation of foreign corporation included issues of law of Curacao, Hong Kong and California/US.

Negligence claim for hedge fund exit advice

Our client suffered losses when they engaged a law firm to advise on their exit from the partnership of a hedge fund. We represented him on a claim of more than £5 million against the law firm for negligent advice.

The US-born son of a UK businessman

When he became engaged to a Swiss citizen, the son of a high-profile UK businessman asked us to help him obtain a British Passport and expatriate from the US. We were also asked to draft a prenuptial agreement. Timing was of the essence but as a global, full-service firm we created a team of immigration, family and private client lawyers to meet tight deadlines.

Charman v Charman

In collaboration with our family law experts, we advised in this high profile and complex divorce case which may be seen as the apogee of the English divorce jurisdiction's robust attitude towards offshore trusts. It marked the widening gap between the trust industry on the one hand and the family division on the other as to the respect to be accorded to trusts, and it remains a seminal case in this field today.

A large private equity fund

Withers has a century of experience in advising high net worth individuals and organizations. So we were pleased to work closely with seven principals of a $1 billion-plus fund to facilitate the most tax-efficient transfer of their interests in a new fund into wealth holding vehicles.

Our team

M. Ridgway Barker

Partner | Greenwich

M. Ridgway Barker

Partner | Greenwich

Corporate

Email M. Ridgway

+1 203 302 4084

Steven Wheeler

Partner | Tokyo

Steven Wheeler

Partner | Tokyo

Commercial real estate

Email Steven

+81 3 6810 2566

William J. Kambas

Partner | New York

William J. Kambas

Partner | New York

Private client and tax

Email William

+1 203 974 0313

David Guin

Partner | New York

David Guin

Partner | New York

Corporate

Email David

+1 212 848 9870

Daniel Tang

Partner | Hong Kong

Daniel Tang

Partner | Hong Kong

Corporate

Email Daniel

+852 3711 1668

Koji Yamamoto

Partner | Tokyo

Koji Yamamoto

Partner | Tokyo

Corporate

Email Koji

+81 3 6810 2565

Yoshiyuki Omori

Partner | Tokyo

Yoshiyuki Omori

Partner | Tokyo

Corporate

Email Yoshiyuki

+81 3 6810 2567

Edward A. Renn

Partner | New York

Edward A. Renn

Partner | New York

Private client and tax

Email Edward

+1 203 974 0343

View All

Insight

26 January 2023 | article

An update on the rules and regulations governing the private placements of fund interests to Japan investors – January 2023

22 September 2022 | article

Singapore: SAL and SVCA launch Venture Capital Investment Model Agreements (VIMA) 2.0

3 June 2022 | article

Leading law firm for philanthropy and impact investing in Asia Pacific

28 April 2022 | article

Revisiting the JFSA Market Entry Office - why this is an ideal time for financial institutions to expand their business in Japan

12 April 2022 | firm news

Withers represented tech giant VNG Corporation in two multi-million dollar investments

3 June 2021 | firm news

Withers advised on the launch of Japan's first ESG-focused global venture capital fund

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Our website will give you a flavour of the advice we provide - if you would like to talk to us for more information, please contact our client services team who will be happy to assist.

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Banking and finance

Commercial litigation

Corporate

Divorce and family

Employment

Immigration

International arbitration

Investment funds

Intellectual property (IP)

Private client

Public international law

Real estate

Tax

Trust, estate and inheritance disputes

White collar defense and investigations

Art

Media and reputation

Philanthropy

Technology and life sciences (Withers tech)

Charities and not for profit

Investment management

Clients include

Track record

Establishment of two Singapore-domiciled fund vehicles

Investment in energy management company NaviX Solutions

Singapore regulatory advice

Advising on Japan regulatory issues

Global venture capital fund

Leading alternative investment management firm

Leading investment firm

One of the world’s largest investment managers

International investment management firm

International investment management firm

Draper Esprit on US$60M Series B funding of FintechOS

A private equity fund

Lead tax advisor in over 20 transactions

Lead tax advisor in over 20 transactions

Asian Sovereign fund

$70M investment to fund partnership with Nike

$10,000,000 Series A venture funding round

$10,500,000 Series D venture funding round

$22,000,000 Series B venture funding round

£30,000,000 Series A venture funding round investment into Cazoo

US micro-venture capital fund

Windup of real estate fund

Negligence claim for hedge fund exit advice

The US-born son of a UK businessman

Charman v Charman

A large private equity fund

Our team

M. Ridgway Barker

Steven Wheeler

William J. Kambas

David Guin

Daniel Tang

Koji Yamamoto

Yoshiyuki Omori

Edward A. Renn

Insight

An update on the rules and regulations governing the private placements of fund interests to Japan investors – January 2023

Singapore: SAL and SVCA launch Venture Capital Investment Model Agreements (VIMA) 2.0

Leading law firm for philanthropy and impact investing in Asia Pacific

Revisiting the JFSA Market Entry Office - why this is an ideal time for financial institutions to expand their business in Japan

Withers represented tech giant VNG Corporation in two multi-million dollar investments

Withers advised on the launch of Japan's first ESG-focused global venture capital fund

Join the club

You may also be interested in

Typical clients and industries include

How else can we help?

Get in touch