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Our fund structure and formation lawyers understand your business priorities and focus on practical solutions and advice. We provide an integrated, unified approach that reflects market trends for both managers and investors worldwide. From traditional private equity funds, hedge funds, and venture funds to a variety of distressed funds, credit funds, real estate funds, fund of funds, and hybrid vehicles, we represent managers and investors across all asset classes and structures.
Not all funds and managers are alike, and we believe documentation and advice should be customized accordingly. We are proactive in guiding our clients, enabling them to become and remain industry leaders. Our representation of institutional investors, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals means we also fully understand the needs and perspectives of limited partners, and it enables us to efficiently achieve the best results for managers and investors alike.
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Hedge Fund Law Report explores the results of Lowenstein’s third annual report on alternative data in an article detailing how nine-in-ten alternative asset managers “now use alternative data or plan to use it in the coming year, and a solid majority increased their use of alternative data in 2021 and 2022 when compared with 2020.” The report was authored by Scott H. Moss, Chair of Lowenstein’s Fund Regulatory & Compliance practice; Boris Liberman, Co-Chair of the firm’s Derivatives & Structured Products practice; and George Danenhauer, counsel in the firm’s Investment Management group. (subscription required to access article).
Investment Executive examines the findings and summarizes key points from Lowenstein’s recent survey on alternative data, which notes that hedge funds have been using alternative data for more than a decade but adoption has increased in recent years, in part because investors sought to gauge the pandemic’s real-time impact on the economy and company profits.
Lowenstein's survey report is also highlighted in Pensions & Investments, Inside Big Data, Advisor's Edge, and AnalyticsIQ.
CIO references Lowenstein Sandler’s recent report on alternative data that found that “92% of investment organizations, from hedge funds and private equity to venture capital, are using alt data to a moderate or significant extent to inform decision making. [The survey’s] respondents also expect their use of alt data to increase through 2022.” CIO further notes that, according to the Lowenstein survey, vendor selection costs were users’ primary concern, as well as “the lack of tools and techniques to store alt data.”
This article also appears in TekDeeps.
Partners from Lowenstein Sandler's Investment Management Group discuss the App Annie case and its impact on hedge funds that use alternative data on Eagle Alpha’s Q4 podcast. They advise funds to follow three steps to establish sufficient due diligence in case the SEC makes an inquiry: “1) Make sure you send out a good DDQ; 2) Have a thorough follow up call, ask a lot of questions about data provenance, and memorialize it; and 3) Negotiate an agreement with robust reps and warranties about data provenance…that’s best practices.” They also make two predictions: “We’re going to see more [SEC] inquiries from managers who use data in their investment processes; and we will continue to see proliferation of utilization of this kind of data in the investment process.”
In Risk.net, Scott H. Moss, Co-Chair of Lowenstein’s Fund Regulatory & Compliance practice, addresses the increased risk of lawsuits to hedge funds under proposed changes to SEC negligence rules.
Insights from Scott H. Moss, partner and co-chair of the firm’s Fund Regulatory & Compliance practice, and Eileen Overbaugh, partner in the firm’s Investment Management group, are featured in a two-part article in Hedge Fund Law Report. Moss and Overbaugh address cybersecurity, business continuity plans, branch offices and disclosures under new Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler, as well as the use of the word “may” in disclosures, conflicts of interest-related issues, cross-trades and principal transactions, insider trading, responsible investing, and exams of new advisers. Moss recommends that fund managers perform risk assessments and conflicts assessments immediately, especially with regard to cybersecurity concerns as advisors continue to work increasingly from home. Cybersecurity is now absolutely essential and “permeates the very existence of every single registered investment adviser,” Moss says.
Peter Greene, Vice Chair of Lowenstein Sandler’s Investment Management group, talks to FundFire about the recent enforcement action by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against alternative data vendor App Annie. He notes that the company’s $10 million settlement with the government “follows signaling from the SEC over two years that alternative data would be a priority for the regulator.” Greene says that hedge fund managers must ask: “Is every link in the chain – the original owner, user of the app’s data, all the way through to the hedge fund, is every link pure? And by pure, does every party prior to you have the right to disclose that data?” He adds, “I think the concern is next time the SEC finds a rogue vendor or actor that we can’t be so sure the managers, hedge fund customers, won’t be implicated as well.”
Peter Greene, Vice Chair of Lowenstein’s Investment Management group, talks to FundFire about increased investing by hedge funds in private companies through various structures. Greene says, “We are seeing a ton of it – a lot of traditional hedge fund managers are starting to look at privates more and more than in the past.”
In an HFM article on the increasing popularity of hybrid public/private funds, partner Benjamin Kozinn of the Investment Management group discusses how to structure these funds and their fees, as well as how to mitigate compliance risks. “One approach is to have opt-in opt-out structures where the investor elects whether they want to allocate a portion of their capital (e.g., 10%, 20%) to privates. In the opt-in/out model, whether you actually invest in privates becomes a function of how many people opted in or opted out,” Kozinn says. He adds that one common approach with these funds is to charge a lower management fee and a higher incentive fee: “Maybe you don’t have to worry about portfolio risk management every day as you would with public markets, but the costs and the complexity of private investments can be higher than public investments.” Kozinn also warns of possible MNPI (Material Nonpublic Information) issues with these structures: “If a private company you are invested in is getting bought by a public company, or it is entering into a significant commercial arrangement with a public company, the manager is potentially walking into MNPI problems if you don’t have a physical separation and appropriate information barriers between the private and public investment teams.” (subscription required to access article)
Lowenstein Sandler counsel Robert J. Menendez, Jr.'s nomination by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is noted in Law360, NJ.com, ROI-NJ, NJBIZ, NorthJersey.com, NBC New York, the Daily Record, Hudson TV, and Hudson County View. Governor Murphy’s official announcement can be read here. (subscription required to access article) View Lowenstein's news announcement about this nomination.
The arrival to Lowenstein of partners Edmund S. Cohen and Rachel Ingwer and counsel Scott Malone to the firm's Tax practice is noted in CPA Practice Advisor, General Counsel News, The Daily Docket, Law Fuel, Bloomberg Law, The American Lawyer, and the New York Law Journal. The lawyers will work closely with the firm’s Investment Management, Family Office, Private Equity, and Mergers & Acquisitions teams on sophisticated transactions and disputes. View Lowenstein's news announcement about these lawyers' arrival to the firm.
Lowenstein's representation of Avid Ventures in the launch of its $68 million-plus debut venture capital fund founded by Addie Lerner, decade-long investor at General Catalyst, General Atlantic, and Goldman Sachs, is noted in the Global Legal Chronicle. The Lowenstein deal team included Ed Zimmerman, Marie T. DeFalco, Max Karpel, Robert J. Menendez, Joseph F. Hendricks, and Bettina C. Elstroth. View Lowenstein's news announcement about this transaction.
Ed Zimmerman, Chair and co-founder of The Tech Group and Adjunct Professor of Venture Capital at Columbia Business School, teamed up with Marie T. DeFalco (Vice Chair of Lowenstein’s Investment Management Group) to represent Avid Ventures in its $68 million-plus debut. Zimmerman tells Business Wire that managing partner Addie Lerner is “a brilliant, hard-charging, and charismatic force within the venture community. She will win deals by force of intellect, personality, and the reputation for excellence and integrity that she has already developed here in the States, in the UK, and in Israel. Having been opposite Addie in my role as counsel to startups, I’ve been impressed to see, more than once, founders rapidly transition from meeting Addie to making room for her in oversubscribed venture rounds.”
In Pitchbook, Zimmerman says: "LPs back the person in a solo GP fund. … I'm excited to see how people react … [to Avid], and whether others say this strategy is different and I'd like to copy it, or at least pivot into it a little bit more.”
Zimmerman tells TechCrunch that Lerner has a reputation for being “extraordinarily thoughtful about deals” and that one entrepreneur called her “one of the smartest people she has met in a decade-plus in venture.” He adds: “I’ve seen it myself in deals and then I’ve seen founders turn down very well branded funds to work with Addie. … Addie will find and win and be invited into great deals because she makes an indelible impression on the people who’ve worked with her and the data is remarkably consistent.”
Boris Liberman's arrival to Lowenstein Sandler as a partner in the Investment Management group is noted in Bloomberg Law, General Counsel News, The Daily Docket, and Law.com (New York Law Journal). View Lowenstein's news announcement about Liberman's arrival to the firm.
Benjamin Kozinn recently participated in a webinar on valuation presented by the Hedge Fund Law Report; its points are summarized in this article. Kozinn comments on valuation challenges; valuation frequency, processes, and governance; valuation committees and third-party valuation agents; and the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on valuation. He notes that “the effect of the coronavirus pandemic has been relatively mild [on asset valuation]. … Market disruptions have been fairly short-lived. Advisers have been revisiting their valuation policies and speaking with their auditors.”
ALLAboutAlpha references Lowenstein Sandler’s survey report, Alternative Data = Better Investment Strategies, But Not Without Concerns, authored by Peter Greene with contributions from Ben Kozinn, in an article discussing the relevant use and applications of alt data for FinServ firms in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The article cites the report’s findings that 98 percent of hedge funds surveyed use alt data in combination with fundamental analysis to make informed investment decisions.
Peter Greene, partner and Vice Chair of Lowenstein’s Investment Management group, is quoted in Alternatives Watch addressing the increased risk of insider trading and the importance of compliance monitoring for hedge fund employees working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Institutional Investor and The Wealth Advisor reference Lowenstein Sandler’s survey, Alternative Data = Better Investment Strategies, But Not Without Concerns, authored by Peter Greene with contributions from Ben Kozinn, in an article on how asset managers are using alternative data for investment decisions. The articles cite the report’s finding that more than a third of hedge funds surveyed spent more than $1 million on data annually.
Peter Greene, partner and Vice Chair of Lowenstein’s Investment Management group, is quoted in The Financial Times addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on startup hedge funds. (subscription required to access article)
Lowenstein's representation of Veronis Suhler Stevenson in the completion of its investment (with NewSpring Health Capital) in the BRC Recovery Family of Programs is noted in the Global Legal Chronicle. The Lowenstein deal team included Steven E. Siesser, Eileen Overbaugh, Traci M. Tomaselli, Brooke A. Gillar, and Lesley P. Adamo. View Lowenstein's news announcement about this transaction.
Lowenstein's representation of W2O, the leading independent provider of analytics-driven, digital-first marketing communications to the health care sector, in the acquisition of Arcus Medica, a recognized leader in medical and scientific communications, highlighted in the Global Legal Chronicle. The Lowenstein deal team included David L. Goret, Marita A. Makinen, Andrew P. Erdmann, Matthew Tippy, Eugene R. Cheval, Tracy F. Buffer, Michael Walutes, Sophia Mokotoff, Megan Monson, Matt Savare, Bryan Sterba, Mary J. Hildebrand, Manali Joglekar, Carly S. Penner, Amy Komoroski Wiwi, and James C. Shehan. View Lowenstein's news announcement about this transaction.
The release of Lowenstein’s research report, Alternative Data = Better Investment Strategies, But Not Without Concerns, by Peter D. Greene (with contributions from Benjamin Kozinn) was noted by Hedgeweek, Business Wire, Opalesque, the Managed Funds Association newsletter, Institutional Investor, Associated Press, Yahoo! Finance, StreetInsider.com, Chief Investment Officer, Business Insider, LexBlog, and Bloomberg Law. The report found that over 80 percent of hedge funds are using alternative data in some capacity and that 90 percent of survey respondents who use alternative data utilize it in combination with fundamental analysis to make investment decisions. View Lowenstein’s news announcement about the report.
Lowenstein Sandler’s role as legal counsel to Medalist Partners, LP in its acquisition of a majority stake in JMP Credit Advisors LLC was mentioned in SCNow, Finger Lakes Times, The Financial Times, Business Wire, Bakersfield.com, MarketScreener.com, and the Global Legal Chronicle. (Lowenstein deal team: Edward S. Nadel, Christopher C. Henry, Jonathan C. Wishnia, Julie Levinson Werner, and Robert J. Menendez). View Lowenstein’s news announcement about this transaction.
Lowenstein’s 2019 promotion of seven lawyers to partner and six to counsel (including three women in each category) is noted in Bloomberg Law – Big Law Business. These promotions are also highlighted in LawFuel, The Deal, and the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey’s (CIANJ) Business Beat newsletter, with Lesley P. Adamo, Dmitry Andreev, Marc S. Kurzweil, James B. O’Grady, Eileen Overbaugh, Peter Slocum, and Julie Levinson Werner highlighted as newly elected partners and Brandon Fierro, Joseph G. Jones, Robert Lynn, Brianne Perlman, Nedda N. Salehi, and Leah Satlin listed as promoted to counsel. Gary M. Wingens is quoted regarding the critical role these lawyers will play in the firm’s continued success. Law360 notes our partner elevations in an article highlighting firms' Q1 promotions. (subscription required to access certain content) View Lowenstein’s news announcement about these promotions.
Ethan L. Silver is quoted in InvestmentNews addressing cryptocurrency market manipulation and custody as it relates to the possibility of a crypto-ETF entering the market in 2019. Silver states that the challenge for the SEC is how to integrate this new technology into the existing SEC rules.
Forbes quotes partner Peter D. Greene in an article discussing the latest Google data hijack and correlating trends of misuse of data. Greene notes the careful manner in which buy-side shops approach provenance of alternative data. The article also highlights Greene’s recent panel participation, “Media StartUps In A Post Cambridge Analytica Era,” which focused on innovation around data protection.
The Hedge Fund Law Report conducts an in-depth interview with Peter D. Greene regarding the GDPR’s impact on private funds’ use of alternative data. Issues addressed include how the GDPR might affect how funds buy and use alternative data; how the GDPR may impact funds’ internal generation or gathering of alternative data; funds’ due diligence in data vendor selection; and immediate steps funds can take to ensure GDPR compliance.
In a three-part article, the Hedge Fund Law Report quotes Peter D. Greene and Benjamin Kozinn regarding fund managers’ collection (often through vendors) and use of big data, liability risks associated with acquisition and use of material nonpublic information, and data privacy issues surrounding access to and use of personally identifiable information.
Ed Nadel comments in Hedge Fund Alert on why younger managers are coming up with innovative fee structures.
