In response to the increasingly challenging economic climate confronting the fund management industry, Deloitte, the business advisory firm, has established a specialist Funds Advisory team. The team, led by 40 partners and supported by 500 staff from all disciplines, brings together its expertise across all the major asset classes. The asset classes include securities funds, real estate, infrastructure, private equity, and hedge funds. Each of these are facing similar challenges to their business models, governance, cost base, capital structures, remuneration models, risk management and compliance processes.
Eliza Dungworth, partner and head of Investment Management at Deloitte comments: Without applying funds expertise to solutions in each of these areas of challenge, problems can be exacerbated rather than fixed. The complexity of fund structures and the variety of the key stakeholders involved investors, boards, managers, debt providers and regulators, can often mean that interaction between any of these has implications and consequences, sometimes unintended and unexpected, for others. It is therefore important that our teams understand the interdependence of these stakeholders when supporting our clients.
Managers and boards are looking at their cost base, operating models, distribution channels, capital structures and governance model to ensure they are competitive in the changed market environment. They are also keen to ensure that they can give investors and regulators a high degree of assurance that best practices are being adopted.
As funds get to grips with these issues we are seeing increased demand for specialist support, and in response to this we have recently added some senior individuals to complement our team, including Matt Tombs from Merrill Lynch Investment Management, Paul Megson from KPMG, Justin Nuccio from Deloitte US, Ali Kazimi from Ernst & Young, Nick Robinson a former restructuring and distressed fund attorney from Walkers, the offshore law firm, and Andy Martyn from HMRC.
D.C.