Dillon Eustace has one of the largest financial services legal practices in Ireland.
Dillon Eustace has one of the largest financial services legal practices in Ireland. The asset management and investment funds team has a team of 35 lawyers and advises international and domestic asset managers, banks, insurers, pension funds, supranational organisations, prime brokers and other counterparties, fund administrators and custodians, securities lending agents and others in relation to all aspects of the asset management and investment funds industries.
Our team represents the largest number of Irish domiciled funds (Lipper Fitzrovia 2007) as well as funds domiciled in Cayman, BVI, Jersey and other centres reflecting the fact that the asset management and investment funds practice has been, and remains, one of the firm’s core activities with partners having been to the forefront of the Irish industry from its beginnings in the late 1980s to the present day. Current industry participation includes Committee I, International Bar Association, AIMA, past and present membership of the Council of the Irish Funds Industry Association (IFIA) and various IFIA committees and several other representative bodies.
Across all product types – from UCITS III to the full spectrum of alternative products such as hedge funds, fund of hedge funds (FoHF), real estate and private equity funds – the team advises on product design, authorisation and launch, prospectus and contractual documentation negotiation, interaction with regulators and exchanges, funds listing and tax issues. This brings to bear in-depth knowledge and expertise, product innovation and a "can do" attitude, most recently evidenced with CCFs, new UCITS III asset classes, the first non-Italian hedge fund authorised for sale into Italy, negotiating significant changes to the custody rules for Irish real estate funds and some unique hedge fund and FoHF products.
The derivatives team advises leading domestic and international banks, bancassurers, dealers and asset managers in relation to documenting and structuring derivatives products, synthetic transactions, regulatory compliance, set-off opinions, staff training, improving existing documentation templates and content and advising on all of the industry standard master agreements.
Our expertise includes currency, credit, equity, fund and commodity derivatives, structured derivative products, collateral arrangements, netting and set off arrangements and opinions, advising a wide range of regulated companies in relation to their use of derivatives and tax issues relating to derivatives.
We also have a highly thought of tax practice which has as one of its primary focuses on international financial services, in particular the asset management and investment funds industry. The tax group advises on all product types with considerable experience in advising fund promoters on tax efficient structures to access double tax treaties for fund products and for avoiding the creation of a taxable presence. They are fully versed in the Irish direct and indirect tax issues facing service providers who have established operations in Ireland or wish to.
In addition the investment funds listing team advises international and domestic asset managers and fund promoters on all aspects of listing Irish and non-Irish (principally Cayman, BVI, and Bermudan) funds on the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE).
Dillon Eustace handles large volumes of initial listings as well as advises clients on continuing obligations. This includes advising on the ISE listing rules, suitability of relevant fund to list, drafting/reviewing the listing particulars, negotiating with the ISE to include on any required derogations and collating all relevant listing documentation and dealing with all local filings.
With relevant input from the firm’s other practice areas and through its offices in Dublin, Cork, Boston and Tokyo and leveraging off its alliance with leading Luxembourg law firm, Arendt & Medernach, Dillon Eustace has and continues to be at the forefront of the financial services industry in Ireland.
Donnacha O’Connor, Partner, Dillon Eustace
