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Jun 25, 2024 | 
lexology.com | Pete Coulton |Gregory Norman |Richard Youle |Arista Lai |Tori Sellwood
Key PointsFinancial sponsors are navigating their way through a macroeconomic and geopolitical storm comprising high interest rates, valuation gaps and increased competition for high-quality assets. Funds are sitting on record levels of capital ready to be deployed, but sale processes for “hot” assets remain highly competitive. A challenging exit market has forced financial sponsors to think creatively about routes to liquidity as pressure mounts to return capital to investors.
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May 16, 2024 | 
lexology.com | Gregory Norman |Abigail Reeves |Wendy Li
In March 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released two documents with its updated supervisory approach for the asset management and alternatives sector: the FCA’s 2024/25 Business Plan (the Business Plan), and a “Dear CEO” letter titled “Our Asset Management & Alternatives Supervisory Strategy – interim update” (the Dear CEO Letter).
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Apr 25, 2024 | 
lexology.com | Danny Tricot |Gregory Norman |Azad Ali |Adam Howard |Justin Lau |Abigail Reeves | +2 more
In July 2023, the UK government published its findings from the Investment Research Review (Review) as part of the UK government’s Edinburgh Reforms.1 The Review made a number of recommendations to encourage research production and quality in the UK, which would in turn help increase activity in UK capital markets.
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Mar 4, 2024 | 
lexology.com | Kenneth Burdon |Robert Chaplin |Eben P. Colby |Gregory Norman
On 15 February 2024, Skadden partners Kenneth Burdon, Robert Chaplin, Eben Colby and Greg Norman presented the webinar “Investment Trusts and Activist Funds,” which outlined recent trends in shareholder activism in publicly listed investment funds and key lessons that UK investment trusts can learn from parallel issues in US closed-end funds.
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Nov 14, 2023 | 
lexology.com | Robert Chaplin |Gregory Norman |Abigail Reeves |Frank Lech
The United Kingdom has long been a target destination for activist investors. It is the venue for nearly half of all of recent activist campaigns in Europe. In previous articles, we have discussed how informed boards should stay alert to the possibility of an activist campaign, and the basic steps they can take to prevent them.
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Oct 26, 2023 | 
lexology.com | Robert Chaplin |Gregory Norman |Simon Toms |Abigail Reeves |Frank Lech
In a speech at the Investment Association’s Annual Dinner on 11 October 2023, Ashley Alder, chair of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), expanded upon the FCA’s discussion paper, “Updating and Improving the UK Regime for Asset Management” (Discussion Paper) published in February 2023. Mr. Alder discussed the strategic objectives guiding the FCA’s proposals, and outlined the FCA’s regulatory priorities:Making the Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) regime more proportionate.
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Oct 18, 2023 | 
lexology.com | Robert Chaplin |Gregory Norman |Simon Toms |Azad Ali
The UK’s Metro Bank announced a landmark refinancing package on 8 October 2023, following a series of regulatory setbacks and concerns in the markets over the financial condition of the bank. The proposal now awaits regulatory approval. Metro’s case highlights the sometimes unique issues faced by smaller banking institutions and raises questions about how UK bank regulators should address them.
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Oct 9, 2023 | 
lexology.com | Gregory Norman |Simon Toms |Adam Howard
As part of its commitment to strengthen sustainability disclosure in its 2018 Sustainable Finance Action Plan, the European Commission (EC), together with the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), has conducted a number of reviews and consultations over the last few years in an aim to improve existing European legislation in this area, including the so-called Non-Financial Reporting Directive (2014/95/EU) (NFRD).
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Aug 29, 2023 | 
lexology.com | John Caccia |Gregory Norman |Anastasia T. Rockas |Heather Cruz |Anna Rips |David Jain
On August 23, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3-2 to adopt a final set of rules and amendments under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (collectively, the Final Rules) that significantly expand the regulatory compliance requirements for certain investment advisers.
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Mar 8, 2023 | 
lexology.com | Gregory Norman |Wendy Li |Abigail Reeves
On 20 February 2023, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released a discussion paper titled “Updating and Improving the UK Regime for Asset Management” (Discussion Paper), seeking industry feedback on potential changes to the current regulatory regime for funds and asset managers.
