Circle Partners is a global financial services specialist that provides its clients with a range of fund administration services and one-stop-shop services for start-up managers looking for the most efficient route to market.
Heading up the firm's US office in Orlando, Florida is David Payne in his role as Head of Business Development for the Americas. Payne was formerly Director of Circle Partners (BVI) before relocating to the US in August this year and prior to working in the BVI and Cayman Islands, he was a director and legal counsel at Circle Partners' London office.
Payne says that the near-term strategy is to grow Circle's business profile in the US and raise awareness among US managers.
"We won't only focus on those running offshore funds but will also look to provide administration services to those running US onshore funds. It's still early days with respect to the latter," says Payne.
"Over the last couple of months we have been busy meeting with prime brokers, custodians, banks, law firms, accountancy firms to explain who we are and what we do. For US onshore funds, we are looking to establish strategic alliances with US law and accountancy firms."
"We are partnering with organisations such as the Florida Alternative Investment Fund Managers Association to start hosting events and introduce ourselves and our ideas to US managers. We are still in the early stages of raising our profile," adds Payne.
There are numerous benefits to start-up managers who decide to appoint a turnkey solution provider; principally, the fact that they can draw upon the experience and network of a single service provider rather than spending time (and money) appointing each service provider to the fund.
"What we see are opportunities to help managers set up funds with a small number of investors and we've been quite successful this year. We are currently in the process of setting up 10 funds in the BVI and Cayman Islands, which is encouraging given that it has been quite a slow market this year. Some clients prefer to have light regulation and will opt for a BVI Approved Fund. Other clients aren't too concerned with this and will tend to go with a Cayman fund," says Payne.
In terms of how the turnkey solution works, he adds: "We help put in place a legal team to draft all of the prospectuses for the fund (Offering Memorandum, Investment Management Agreement, etc), open bank accounts for the manager, and once the fund is set up, Circle performs all of the administration work and transfer agency services work."
Payne notes that interest is building not just among US-based managers but also those based in Latin America who view Miami as a gateway into the US fund market.
"In both instances, we have seen more interest in the offshore model this year. Latin American clients, in particular, find offshore jurisdictions easier to work with because there is not a heavy burden of regulation and lower costs if compared to traditional onshore jurisdictions. Managers want to keep costs down and prefer to launch with a lightly regulated or non-regulated fund to begin with, and then perhaps afterwards go to Europe to set up a regulated fund structure," explains Payne.
With its ability to structure offshore funds and provide structuring solutions and advice to US managers who looking at Europe, Payne sees the US as a big opportunity
