Continuation Funds in Private Equity: Benefits, Risks, Structuring Considerations, Market Developments

Mr. Tope advises secondaries firms, investment fund sponsors, and investors on fund formation and secondaries transactions. Having completed more than 250 secondaries transactions in his career, he has significant experience with pooled sale/purchase transactions and GP-led restructurings. Mr. Tope’s secondaries clients include lead investors in connection with GP-led and other complex secondary transactions and buyers and sellers in connection with the purchase and sale of fund interests. His sponsor-side clients include prominent and emerging private equity, infrastructure, energy transition, real estate, venture capital and hedge fund sponsors. Mr. Tope advises in multiple areas, including the drafting of offering memoranda, negotiations with investors and Investment Advisers Act and Investment Company Act compliance. He brings a global perspective to his practice, having represented managers and investors in dozens of jurisdictions. Mr. Tope has worked with spin outs from Apollo, Carlyle, Riverstone, Summit Partners, and others. He has a deep understanding of how principal compensation is structured and can guide principals in negotiating vesting arrangements, key person/for cause removal rights, and rights to carried interest/promote. He is experienced representing managers in connection with negotiations with anchor and lead investors and GP-stakes transactions. Mr. Tope’s investor-side clients include allocators, family offices, funds of funds, endowments, sovereign wealth funds and royal families. He represents these investors in dozens of transactions in nearly every jurisdiction on an annual basis.