- property
- agribusiness
- securities
- fintech/digital
Investment funds
We are Australia’s leading investment funds advisory team.
Independently ranked as industry leaders (Chambers Asia Pacific and Legal500 Asia Pacific), our collective deep industry knowledge and vast industry experience mean we partner with clients at every stage of their journey to optimise wealth and create value.
With one of the largest specialist investment funds teams in the country, our pragmatic advice spans each stage of the fund life cycle – from licensing, structuring and establishment to litigation and exit strategies.
Our work features major and complex funds transactions demanding robust collaboration across our multi-disciplinary team, including mergers and acquisitions, regulatory advice, complex fund structuring, joint ventures, and ‘investments’ work from superannuation funds.
To help you understand the industry framework, key developments, and regulatory issues we have put together a range of practical and informative guides and resources that capture our thinking.
‘They are pragmatic, commercial and responsive.’
With our multidisciplinary expertise, we offer an integrated view of the broader marketplace, its challenges, risks and opportunities, including any implications for your business. Our services span:
- financial services regulation, including AFS licensing
- structuring and establishment
- offer documents
- finance
- major transactions and acquisitions, including joint ventures and investments
- taxation
- litigation
- exit strategies.
We establish both retail and wholesale investment funds across a wide variety of industries, asset classes and jurisdictions, including:
- hedge funds
- private debt
- listed funds
- venture capital
- private equity
- significant investor visa
- renewables
- other alternative assets
Our leading property funds specialists handle some of the largest and most complex property fund transactions in the market as well as assisting with ongoing regulatory and management issues. We are recognised as one of the leading firms servicing the unlisted property funds sector in Australia.
We also have experience in establishing less common wholesale managed investment vehicles, such as platforms (IDPS), hedge funds with overseas feeder structures, and capital guaranteed products.
We play an active role in thought leadership, significant regulatory initiatives and key industry bodies, such as the Property Funds Association, Property Council of Australia and the Financial Services Council.
We have a range of innovative resources providing insights into key issues and challenges facing the investment funds industry today, including:
- Navigating AML/CTF a podcast series where our experts analyse the latest developments in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing;
- CCIV Guide which outlines the framework for the new corporate collective investment vehicle and how it may benefit your business;
- Fundamental a quarterly publication where we share our latest thinking on key industry developments; and
- Financial Services in Focus our monthly e-news with up-to-date regulatory news for the financial services industry.
We also offer a suite of essential tools to help you better understand the investment funds industry framework and key industry challenges and issues.
We advise responsible entities, trustees and promoters of managed funds throughout Australia, as well as investment managers, platform operators, brokers and distributors, custodians, administrators, advisers and other stakeholders in the financial services sector.
- Advising Scentre Group (owner of Westfield destinations in Australia and New Zealand) and Barrenjoey Private Capital on the successful launch of the West Lakes Opportunity Trust and the acquisition of a 50 percent interest in Westfield West Lakes shopping centre in Adelaide for $174.8 million.
- Advising Arena REIT on its $120 million capital raising and the portfolio acquisition of six early learning centre properties, which involved a $120 million institutional placement and a $20 million securities purchase plan.
- Advising global investment manager Barings Australia and subsidiary Gryphon Capital Investments on establishing the Barings Liquidity Investment Strategy, investing in a portfolio of floating rate, secured Australian debt securities and asset backed securities.
- Advising Haben Property Funds on establishing a stapled trust structure, the Haben Westpoint Trust, to acquire a 50 per cent interest in the $900 million Blacktown Westpoint Shopping Centre in Sydney alongside global real estate investment manager Hines.
- Advising Corval Partners, the trustee of the RF CorVal MHE Fund established to develop, operate and manage manufactured housing estate projects on a complex deal to restructure the fund and raise additional capital.
- Advising Swift Storage in the $200 million sale of a majority interest in their self-storage enterprise to global investment giant Barings, including the sale of 15 purpose built self-storage centres.
- Advising the principals of StoreLocal Group in the sale of a majority interest in their $440 million self-storage enterprise to the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock which involved the sale of 40 self-storage assets across Australia.
- Advising AL Capital Holdings, the independent investment arm of Aqualand Group, in establishing a wholesale property syndicate to assist Aqualand with its independent investment in a $600 million funding package for the construction of AURA by Aqualand, a $1 billion mixed-use development set to be the focal point of the North Sydney rejuvenation.
- Advising Capital Property Funds on the restructure of the 601 Coronation Drive Fund, a closed-end single asset fund into an open-ended diversified property fund to enable the responsible entity One Managed Investment Funds, and investment manager Capital Property Funds, to utilise an existing investment structure whilst innovating and adapting to the property market changes to benefit investors.
- Advising Qualitas on the establishment, capital raising and JV arrangements for various direct property and debt funds, including built-to-rent property funds.
- Registering the first managed investment scheme in Australia, obtaining the first AFS licence authorising a person to operate a corporate collective investment vehicle (CCIV), and acting on the first public offer for investment in a CCIV.