Expertise
Matheson's Asset Management and Investment Funds Department was ranked by the Monterey Insight Ireland Fund Report, the leading independent industry survey, as Ireland's leading practice by assets under management for the eleventh year in a row in 2021. The Monterey Insight Ireland Fund Report 2021 reveals that Matheson continues to rank first for Irish domiciled funds based on the assets under management at 29% and first amongst both domiciled and non-domiciled funds as at 30 June 2021.
Our dedicated team is comprised of over 70 fund professionals, led by 14 partners.
We are experts in all aspects of UCITS including structured UCITS, UCITS ETFs, money market funds, UCITS platforms, UCITS pursuing alternative or hedge fund strategies, traditional long only equity and bond funds.
Our experience in alternative funds also sets us apart from our competitors. We have advised on alternative investment funds investing in pharmaceutical royalties, life settlements, property, currencies, commodities, bank loans, private equity, other hedge funds and on all hedge fund strategies including long/short, event driven, arbitrage, global macro, distressed debt and multi-strategy amongst others. Our market-leading expertise on AIFMD includes advising on the first AIFM authorisation in Europe and the first inward AIFMD management passport into Ireland. Our partners have advised numerous funds on transition to AIFMD.
The reputation of the Asset Management and Investment Funds Department amongst industry professionals and our involvement in the development of the industry is reflected by the appointment of managing partner Michael Jackson as chairman of the International Financial Services Centre Funds Group Legislative Committee, established by the Department of An Taoiseach (the Irish Prime Minister), and his 2009/2010 chairmanship of the Irish funds industry association (“Irish Funds”). Our partners Tara Doyle, Dualta Counihan, Shay Lydon, Anne-Marie Bohan, Liam Collins, Philip Lovegrove, Oisin McClenaghan and Michelle Ridge are all members of Irish Funds committees in the areas of hedge funds and alternative investment funds, exchange traded funds, UCITS V, client assets, private equity funds, distribution in Asia and Latin America and European Long Term Investment Funds. At European level, Shay Lydon is a member of the European Fund and Asset Management Association (“EFAMA”) UCITS Working Group and Liam Collins has been appointed as the Irish Funds representative to the EFAMA Financial Benchmarks Working Group, Philip Lovegrove is a member of the EFAMA ETFs Working Group and Tara Doyle is a member of the EFAMA ESG Standing Committee.
All of our partners are regular contributors to European and Irish consultations on the development of asset management and funds regulation. Submissions have been made by the Asset Management and Investment Funds Department towards the development of the Central Bank’s policy in a number of areas, including multi-manager funds, structured UCITS using tailored derivatives at share class level, and loan origination by qualified investor alternative investment funds.
With our team of 70 asset management legal and regulatory advisers working alongside Matheson taxation, structured finance and commercial litigation departments, we offer a comprehensive service for clients. As we are one of the few law firms in Ireland with a specialist derivatives practice, we have an unrivalled capacity to provide combined asset management, tax and derivatives advice to our clients. Our regulatory compliance and risk management team assists with authorisations of new investment managers, administrators and custodians, compliance requirements and Central Bank administrative sanctions. In addition to this, we provide a full investment funds listing services, a specialist outsourcing advisory practice and a dedicated investment funds company secretarial service, with online board-room facilities for our clients.
Our Team
Our dedicated team comprises over 70 fund professionals in total, led by 14 partners.
- Anne-Marie Bohan
- Liam Collins
- Dualta Counihan
- Tara Doyle
- Elizabeth Grace
- Michael Jackson
- Philip Lovegrove
- Shay Lydon
- Oisin McClenaghan
- Barry O’Connor
- Donal O’Byrne
- Michelle Ridge
- Catriona Cole
- Anthony Gaskin
Representative experience of the Asset Management and Investment Funds Group includes:
- The launch of a wide range of UCITS products including traditional long only equity, bond and money market funds; alternative and structured products; ETFs; UCITS employing eligible strategies including long/short (130/30) equity, credit, currency, interest rate, volatility strategies and eligible financial indices.
- Acting for over half of Irish domiciled money market funds by AUM, with industry leading experience in innovative areas such as negative yield / reverse distribution mechanisms and T setting accumulation share classes.
- First AIFM authorised in Europe.
- First inward AIFMD management passport into Ireland.
- First to advise on bank loan funds using special purpose subsidiaries.
- First Irish domiciled pharmaceutical royalties funds.
- First Irish domiciled US life assurance policies funds.
- First Irish “China” fund, a mutual fund investing in China A shares.
- First Brazilian promoted Irish domiciled hedge fund.
- First Irish funds promoted by Dubai and Saudi Arabian financial institutions.
- First structured UCITS investment limited partnerships investing in property assets.
- Third party manager platforms (UCITS and QIAIFs).
- Liability driven investment funds.
- Insurance linked investment funds.
- Structured fund platforms.
- Shariah-compliant UCITS and AIFs.
- Bank loan funds using section 110 subsidiaries for several large international investment managers, including a hybrid fund/CLO structure.
- Hedge funds using a variety of strategies including arbitrage, macro, directional, event-driven, long/short, market neutral, directional and quantitative and permitting direct investment and investment in fund of funds and feeder fund structures.
- Irish, European and US commercial and residential property / real estate funds.
- Commodities funds.
- Renewable energy funds.
- Retail funds of hedge funds.
- Exchange traded and other index tracking funds, including physical and synthetic replication and smart beta funds.
- Private equity fund of funds and feeder funds (gaining exposure to structures in Cayman, Jersey, Bermuda, Guernsey and a number of other domiciles worldwide).
- Common contractual funds for multinational groups seeking tax transparent asset pooling solutions.
- Listing of Irish and non-Irish domiciled funds on the Irish Stock Exchange.
- Management company establishment.
- Negotiation of contracts on behalf of administrators, custodians and prime brokers.
“Knowledgeable about: fund law and
practice, fund structuring, regulator requirements, and is an experienced
capable team.”
The Legal 500 2022
"Bespoke client focus to deliver in
a timely manner."
The Legal 500 2022
"Client focused, networking, team
players, working with multi jurisdictional cross-border clients and
transactions seamlessly. A can do attitude."
The Legal 500 2022
"They
know the law and the market inside out and they apply that knowledge
practically and simply."
The Legal 500 2022
“Matheson provide responsive and well-resourced advice on investment funds and related issues and offer good insight on latest developments at industry level and arising out of discussions with the Central Bank of Ireland.”
IFLR1000 2021
“They are knowledgeable at a legislative level but more importantly at industry and regulatory level meaning they provide very practical advice and direction.”
IFLR1000 2021
"Market-leading team in investment funds. The team is made up of industry experts, best of breed technically, superbly resourced, hungry to support their client base to the best of standards and do so exceptionally well".
The Legal 500 2021
The Legal 500 2021
"I would highly recommend Matheson, particularly Philip Lovegrove. A very knowledgeable team and a pleasure to deal with".
The Legal 500 2021
The team "offers a very deep bench of talented lawyers and has a great number of resources it can apply if we need bulk support and lots of input over a short amount of time, and the lawyers cooperate and collaborate very well and efficiently".
Chambers Europe 2021
"The team is superb in the sense that the lawyers really care - not just about giving good advice but also that no deadline is missed or that I'm aware of any potential opportunity to do things more efficiently. I feel like they have my back and technically they are second to none".
Chambers Europe 2021
Matheson not only has “great legal knowledge but the ability to apply it practically”.
European Legal 500 2019
"They have excellent technical and industry knowledge and are always welcoming".
IFLR1000 2019
"The dual partner model they run works very well to ensure coverage and expertise across a range of projects, and is relatively unique".
Chambers Europe 2018
Matheson is "a very good fund service provider with supporting regulatory expertise".
European Legal 500 2018
"Focused on giving top-quality advice".
Chambers Europe 2018
"The best firm in Dublin for this type of work: they have unrivalled knowledge and expertise, are quick to react and user-friendly."
Chambers Europe 2017
"Excellent, leaders in the field, dynamic and innovative."
IFLR1000 2017
Matheson's Asset Management and Investment Funds Department produces updates and briefing notes on the main issues affecting the Irish and European investment fund industry, together with information on Ireland as an international fund domicile and establishing investment funds in Ireland. To view our full investment funds publications library, click here.
replacing their initial statement published in February 2021 (the “ESAs’ Supervisory Statement”). Read More >
2022 Horizon Scanning for Fund Managers - January 2022
Fund managers may have been relieved to see out 2021, a year in which all funds had to be classified as Article 6, Article 8 or Article 9 funds under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (“SFDR”) in advance of the 10 March deadline. Read More >
Extension of PRIIPs Exemption for UCITS - December 2021
The Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (“PRIIPs”) Regulation requires that all PRIIPs be accompanied by a key information document (“KID”). Read More >
Central Bank of Ireland Consultation on Property Funds - November 2021
On 25 November 2021, the Central Bank of Ireland (“Central Bank”) published a consultation paper (“CP145”) on macroprudential measures for the property fund sector. Read More >
European Commission Review of the AIFMD - November 2021
The European Commission (“Commission”) is required, under the terms of the AIFMD, to conduct a review of the operation of the directive. Having conducted its evaluation of the AIFMD, the Commission concluded that the AIFMD has worked well and largely achieved its objectives of establishing an effective supervisory framework for AIFMs, ensuring high levels of investor protection and facilitating the creation of the EU AIF market. Read More >
Central Bank of Ireland Confirms Fast Track Process for Taxonomy Filings - November 2021
In May and October 2021, the Irish Funds industry association made submissions to the Central Bank of Ireland (“Central Bank”) in relation to SFDR phase 2 implementation and the Taxonomy Regulation requirements effective from 1 January 2022. Read More >
Central Bank Dear CEO Letter on Climate and Other ESG Issues - November 2021
On 3 November 2021, the Central Bank of Ireland (“Central Bank”) published a “Dear CEO” letter on its supervisory expectations regarding climate and other ESG issues, which was published to coincide with the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (“COP26”). Read More >
European Supervisory Authorities Publish Final Report on Taxonomy-related Disclosures - October 2021
On 22 October 2021, the European Supervisory Authorities (“ESAs”) published their final report setting out draft regulatory technical standards (“Draft RTS”) on disclosures under the Taxonomy Regulation. Read More >
Central Bank of Ireland Notice of Intention re PCF Roles - September 2021
On 22 September 2021, the Central Bank of Ireland (“Central Bank”) published a notice of intention in relation to amendments to the list of pre-approval controlled functions (“PCFs”). Read More >
European Commission Responds to ESAs Questions on SFDR Priority Issues - August 2021
On 26 July 2021, the European Commission (“Commission”) published a Q&A seeking to clarify the application and implementation of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (“SFDR”). The Q&A is the long-awaited response to the European Supervisory Authorities’ (“ESAs”) letter dated 7 January 2021 on priority issues for clarification under the SFDR. Read More >
Sustainable Finance – Next Steps for Investment Funds - July 2021
The EU Sustainable
Finance Disclosure Regulation (“SFDR”), investment funds and fund management companies are now in the next phase
of preparing for compliance with both the SFDR requirements and the EU Taxonomy Regulation. Read More >
Cross Border Distribution of Funds - July 2021
New requirements relating to cross border distribution are due to apply from 2 August 2021, Cross Border Distribution Directive (“CBDD”) are due to be transposed into national law and the provisions of the Cross
Border Distribution Regulation (“CBDR”) are due to come into effect. Read More >
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Our detailed briefing notes provide comprehensive overviews on establishing various types of investment funds, the available fund vehicles and the applicable regulatory regimes.
Ireland as an International Fund Domicile
Ireland is internationally recognised as one of the world’s most advantageous jurisdictions in which to establish international investment funds. Fund vehicles with many different characteristics can be established in Ireland as Irish collective asset-management vehicles (ICAVs), investment companies, investment limited partnerships, unit trusts or common contractual funds. Read More >
Establishing a UCITS
in Ireland
As an internationally recognised gold standard for investment funds, the undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (“UCITS”)
brand has gone from strength to strength since its inception as a harmonised European investment fund more than twenty-five years ago. Read More >
Establishing a Qualifying
Investor AIF in Ireland
The qualifying investor alternative investment fund (“QIAIF”) is one of the two regulated alternative investment fund structures introduced upon
the implementation of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (“AIFMD”) in Ireland. Read More >
Establishing an Investment
Limited Partnership in Ireland
Ireland now has a ‘best-in breed’ regulated partnership vehicle building on Ireland’s position as the domicile of
choice for asset managers wishing to establish European investment funds. Read More >
ILP Key Features
The purpose of this briefing note is to provide an overview of the key features of Irish investment limited partnerships
(“ILPs”). Read More >
Establishing an Exchange
Traded Fund in Ireland
The continued growth of ETFs is one of the most significant trends in the investment fund industry. It is estimated that, globally, ETFs and exchange traded products (“ETPs”) had assets of more than US$6.04 trillion as at the end of February 2020. Read More >
Establishing a Private Equity Fund in Ireland
The regulatory framework within which a private equity fund established in Ireland can sit is, in the vast majority of cases, best served by the highly
flexible Qualifying Investor Alternative Investment Fund (“QIAIF”). Read More >
Establishing Structured Funds in Ireland
Many product producers who have traditionally used securitisation issues and structured products such as debt programmes, certificates,
collateralised loan obligations or collateralised debt obligations to structure their deals are now creating structured funds for their product
offerings. Read More >
ICAV Mergers
The Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicle (“ICAV”), Ireland’s newest investment fund vehicle, was introduced in March
2015. Read More >
Key Benefits and Features of the ICAV
The Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicle (“ICAV”), Ireland’s newest investment fund vehicle, was introduced in March 2015. Read More >
Establishing a Common Contractual Fund
The Irish CCF is a tax transparent cross-border investment vehicle designed to assist multinationals, their finance professionals and local pension plans to achieve economies of scale and enhanced governance. Read More >
