Henderson Accelerates Australian Growth Plans With Acquisition of Perennial Fixed Interest, Perennial Growth Management and 90 West

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Henderson GI acelera sus planes en Australia con la compra de Perennial Fixed Interest, Perennial Growth Management y 90 West
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: PaulDAmbra, Flickr, Creative Commons. Henderson Accelerates Australian Growth Plans With Acquisition of Perennial Fixed Interest, Perennial Growth Management and 90 West

Henderson Group has agreed to acquire 100% of Perennial Fixed Interest Partners Pty Ltd and Perennial Growth Management Pty Ltd from IOOF Holdings Ltd and the employee-shareholders of each company. The two companies have combined Assets Under Management (AUM) of £5.5bn (A$10.7bn).

In a separate transaction, Henderson has increased its ownership of 90 West Asset Management Pty Ltd from 41% to 100%. 90 West has AUM of £0.2bn (A$0.3bn) in global natural resources equities funds and segregated mandates.

Highlights

  • These acquisitions accelerate Henderson’s strategy to grow and globalise its business, taking its Pan Asian AUM to 11% of the Group’s total from £4.0bn (A$7.8bn) to £9.6bn (A$18.7bn).
  • Perennial’s fixed income and equities expertise will significantly extend Henderson’s offering to Australian clients, adding domestic investment management capability to Henderson’s globally focused offerings and providing a broader platform for future growth in the Australian market.
  • The Perennial transactions create an opportunity to forge a strong relationship between Henderson and IOOF, one of Australia’s leading wealth management and advice platforms.
  • Full ownership of 90 West will enable Henderson to benefit from the pipeline of new business the firms have created together, both in Australia and globally.
  • On completion of these transactions and the sale of its 40% interest in TH Real Estate which completed on 1 June, Henderson’s capital position will improve by £40m. Henderson will update the market on its capital position at its Interim Results on 30 July 2015.

Transaction structures

As part of the Perennial transactions, IOOF receives an upfront consideration and a deferred component dependent on future business performance, payable after two and four years.

In all three businesses, the employee-shareholders will receive a significant majority of their consideration through deferred earn-out structures to be paid four years post completion, with the quantum dependent on future business performance. Key investment professionals in all businesses have signed long term employment contracts with Henderson.

All transactions will be funded from existing cash resources.

The 90 West transaction closed on 29 May 2015, and the Perennial transactions are expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015. Following these acquisitions, Henderson will continue to build out its distribution and business operations in Australia to deliver growth for new and existing businesses and teams.

Andrew Formica, Chief Executive of Henderson, said: “Developing our presence in Australia is a strategic priority for Henderson. These acquisitions will give us recognised domestic investment management capabilities to complement our global offering and take us into the Top 30 of Australian asset managers. They help us build scale in our Australian business well ahead of our previous expectations. On completion, we will more than double our AUM from Pan Asian clients and have around 40 investment professionals based in the region, managing money on behalf of local and international investors. This is another important step towards achieving our ambition to become a truly global asset manager.”

Glenn Feben, Managing Partner of PFI, said: “Our team is delighted to be joining Henderson. For us to become part of a truly global fixed income team will provide real benefits to our investment team and to our clients.”

Lee Mickelburough, Head of PGM, commented: “We see a strong cultural alignment with the team at Henderson and look forward to being part of an independent, investment-led firm, which will help us focus on investment performance for our clients and navigate our path to future growth.”

David Whitten, Executive Chairman of 90 West, said: “Over the last two years, we have formed a close relationship with Henderson, both in Australia and worldwide. We have seen the value they bring to our business. We are thrilled to be part of Henderson, and are now better positioned to deliver to our clients and to grow.”

Smarter Data Management is Essential for Effective Fund Management

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BNY Mellon has published a new white paper examining Big Data’s credentials and its potential as a transformative tool in the current era of shrinking margins and ever-more sophisticated and powerful analytical tools.

The new paper —Big Data and Investment Management — highlights how custodians, depositary banks and administrators are positioned at the forefront of product development around Big Data solutions that address the complex and commercially critical issues of how to enhance both sales performance and client satisfaction.

The paper also examines how investment managers can utilize Big Data to bring together separate elements — dark pools of data, predictive analysis, behavioral finance — to allow the investment industry to enhance product design, drive sales and improve investor outcomes.

Daron Pearce, global investment manager segment head for Investment Services at BNY Mellon, said: “As the lines between the front, middle and back office continue to blur, smarter data management is essential for effective fund management. Big Data facilitates that – but also poses challenges. Through an understanding of these opportunities and potential obstacles, the investment management industry can use their own data to design, manufacture and market solutions more effectively with a view to generating outcomes that are more aligned to investor expectations.”

Mark Gibbons, chief information officer, EMEA at BNY Mellon, added: “B2C businesses have already embraced Big Data, developing sophisticated, data-driven profiling tools that enable tailored services for different client segments. While client, transactional and portfolio data is collected across the investment management industry for historical, regulatory and analytical purposes, most managers are yet to fully leverage these diverse data pools with a view to identifying key correlations and generating fresh insights. That is a particular area of focus for BNY Mellon, as demonstrated by our own Digital Pulse offering which tracks activities, processes and transactions within our company, resulting in predictive analytics that enable businesses to work smarter and drive improvement.”

Azimut Australian Subsidiary Acquires Pride Advice

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La filial australiana de Azimut compra la firma Pride Advice
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Les Haines. Azimut Australian Subsidiary Acquires Pride Advice

Azimut today has signed an agreement to acquire the entire capital of Pride Advice via its Australian subsidiary, AZ Next Generation Advisory Pty Ltd. The agreement includes a share swap of 49% of Pride’s equity for AZ NGA shares and a progressive buy back of these shares over the next ten years. The remaining 51% stake will be paid to the founding partners in cash over a period of two years. This second agreement follows the recently announced deal reached with Eureka Whittaker Macnaught and confirms AZ NGA’s objective of consolidating Australian financial practices providing wealth management services to retail, HNW and institutional clients in Australia.

AZ NGA was established in November 2014 and is part of Azimut Group, Italy’s leading independent asset manager, established in 1989 and today operating in 13 countries with more than EUR 34bn (equivalent to A$ 48bn) in AuM.

The Pride Group was established in 2003 by Brett Schatto and manages over A$ 180mn of assets under advice (equivalent to EUR 128mn), and provides services to over 1,700 clients. Pride employs 9 staff in its Adelaide based operations offering a comprehensive range of financial planning services including investment and asset allocation advice, retirement planning, insurance, and strategic financial planning advice to its client base. Together with EWM and Pride AZ NGA’s business model will assist clients from the Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide offices and grow the distribution reach by attracting financial planners as well as continuing its consolidation plan.

The total value of the transaction considering both the cash and share swap entails a purchase price of around 2.5mn. The closing of the transaction is expected to occur within the next few weeks upon satisfaction of some conditions precedent provided in the sale and purchase agreement. Pride operates under the Australian Financial Services License regime overseen by ASIC; the acquisition is not subject to the approval of the local authority. Pride will continue to be lead by CEO Brett Schatto who has entered into long term arrangements to ensure continuity of service.

Paul Barrett, AZ NGA CEO states: “Pride Advice is a leading professional financial planning firm as well as a very fast growing business. Brett is a pioneer in modern professional financial planning and we are thrilled to have Pride in our stable of firms.”

Brett will also be appointed board member in AZ NGA. Brett Schatto says: “We are delighted to be involved with such an exciting project. We are looking forward to working with Azimut and AZ NGA in continuing to deliver great results for our clients.“

Capital Strategies Partners, a third party mutual fund distribution firm, holds the distribution of AZ Fund Management products in Latin America.

Avoid European Equities Leaving a Bitter Taste

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Asset managers need to take steps to avoid losing investors along with the exodus from European equity funds once the sugar-rush effect of quantitative easing (QE) has waned, warns the latest issue of The Cerulli Edge – European Monthly Product Trends Edition.

European equity funds are enjoying their strongest flows in several quarters, thanks in part to the European Central Bank’s monthly liquidity injections of €60 billion (US$66 billion) to bolster the eurozone, but asset managers should be gearing up for the inevitable end of the cycle, says Cerulli Associates.

“Once investors start sensing Europe has had its run, they will want to take out their money. To realize longer-lasting benefits, asset managers must convince clients to stick with the brand by offering strong products in another sector, such as emerging markets, which are now presenting buying opportunities,” says Barbara Wall, Europe research director at the analytics firm.

The firm notes that investors in countries such as Spain and Italy are once again keen on European equities, going through private banking channels. Asia is showing more interest, while funds are also flowing out of the United States after a strong run. U.S. investors who bought when the euro and dollar were nearing parity are enjoying a currency bonus.

Flows into long-term active European equity funds hit €14 billion for the first three months of 2015, the highest quarterly level since the first quarter of last year. The firm believes that further positive flows are likely to continue, but for months, rather than years.

“Asset managers should enjoy the QE bonus flows while they last. But the pattern is unlikely to be different from previous cycles, and the end may already be in sight. Positive developments such as the definitive U.K. election result are being offset by Greece remaining in crisis mode,” says Brian Gorman, an analyst at Cerulli.

Other Findings include that Italy, Germany, and Spain were the most successful European countries for the first quarter of 2015, gathering €12 billion, €14 billion, and €3 billion respectively, driven in the main by investors’ demand for mixed assets and euro bonds, which attracted €12.2 billion and €8.5 billion.

European exchange-traded funds tracking Japanese equities saw net inflows rising to €1 billion in March from €370 million during February, as investors abandoned U.S. and U.K. equities in favor of opportunities in Japan.

Italian funds remain out in front for inflows among European markets, even if March did not quite match February’s stellar achievement. Mixed assets accounted for half the flows, and were slightly down on the previous month. Bond flow rates picked up. Money market funds, which have suffered outflows every month so far in 2015, were the only negative category.

Jon Aisbitt to Step Down as Man Group Chairman in 2016

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Jon Aisbitt dimitirá como presidente de Man Group en 2016
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Glyn Lowe. Jon Aisbitt to Step Down as Man Group Chairman in 2016

Man Group announces that Jon Aisbitt intends to step down as Chairman and as a director of Man Group plc in May 2016 at the Company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). A committee of the Board, led by the Senior Independent Director, Phillip Colebatch, will identify his successor.

Jon Aisbitt was appointed to the Board as a non-executive director in August 2003 and was appointed Chairman in September 2007.

Jon Aisbitt, Chairman of Man Group, said: “It has been a privilege to lead the Board over the past eight years, and I am very proud of the progress the firm has made in diversifying and repositioning for further growth. I would like to thank my fellow Board members and the executive team at Man Group for their support and commitment. I will leave Man Group in the hands of an experienced, dedicated management team, and with a first-class Board, with whom I will continue to work over the next year to help ensure a smooth succession process.”

Emmanuel Roman, CEO of Man Group, said: “On behalf of our shareholders and everyone at Man Group, I would like to thank Jon for his exceptional service and dedication to the firm over the past 12 years. Jon’s leadership of the Board through significant change for Man Group has been invaluable. He has been a great support, guide and challenge to me personally as we have worked very hard to reposition the business. Jon’s decision to step down at next year’s AGM is part of a well-considered succession plan and allows the Board the time and flexibility to find the right candidate to succeed him.”

Man Group also announces that John Cryan will succeed Phillip Colebatch as Chairman of the Remuneration Committee following today’s AGM. John Cryan was appointed to the Board as a non-executive director and as a member of the Remuneration Committee and Nomination Committee in January 2015. Phillip Colebatch will continue to serve as a non-executive director and as Senior Independent Director.

BNY Mellon Dynamic Total Return Fund Now Available to European Investors

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BNY Mellon lanza en Europa el fondo Dynamic Total Return Fund, que hasta ahora sólo estaba disponible en Estados Unidos
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Hendrik Dacquin. BNY Mellon Dynamic Total Return Fund Now Available to European Investors

BNY Mellon Investment Management announced the launch of a UCITS Dynamic Total Return Fund. The launch gives European investors access to the successful Dynamic Total Return strategy which was previously limited to US investors. The US vehicle has recently passed through the USD$1 billion mark off the back of very strong performance and has been the number one fund in the Morningstar Multialternative universe over five years.

The BNY Mellon Dynamic Total Return Fund is the latest addition to BNY Mellon’s multi-asset range and will replicate the strategy of its US counterpart with the aim of keeping pace with global equity markets while also managing volatility and cushioning any market falls. 

The Dublin-domiciled UCITS fund is aimed at investors seeking to achieve managed growth with a lower drawdown. The portfolio primarily uses futures to gain exposure to global equity and bond markets. It also invests in more specialist asset classes such as currencies, commodities and inflation-protected securities. The Fund will be managed by the multi-asset team at Mellon Capital Management, one of BNY Mellon’s investment boutiques, and led by Vassilis Dagioglu. Dagioglu is also lead manager on the US vehicle.

Matt Oomen, Head of European Distribution at BNY Mellon Investment Management EMEA, commented: “We are seeing significant and growing client demand for multi-asset investment solutions. The Dynamic Total Return Fund provides our clients with access to an equity-like target return product alongside our existing suite of absolute return and total return products. It fits perfectly into our range as we continue to build out our offering in this space. The European launch of the Dynamic Total Return Fund gives clients the opportunity to invest in a strategy with a 10 year track record and the chance to benefit from Mellon Capital’s 25 years’ experience in the multi-asset space.”

Vassilis Dagioglu, Lead Manager of the BNY Mellon Dynamic Total Return Fund, said: “The Fund is a diversified growth fund which seeks to profit from mis-pricings across assets and between markets. Using forward-looking valuation models which incorporate expectations for future cash flows, we apply our fundamental analysis in a systematic process on a big scale, on a frequent basis, and with a strong emphasis on downside risk control. Allocations are consequently spread across a range of equity, bond, currency and commodity market exposures and dynamically adjusted as forecasts evolve. As one of the top performing funds in the Morningstar Multialternative universe, we are pleased to be able to offer this product to European investors within a UCITS structure.”

The Fund is part of BNY Mellon’s Global Fund range and is available to investors in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Fitch: Below-Average Hurricane Season Predicted in 2015; Nearly 10 Years Since Last Florida Landfall

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CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Fitch: Below-Average Hurricane Season Predicted in 2015; Nearly 10 Years Since Last Florida Landfall

Fitch Ratings new special report, ‘Hurricane Season 2015: A Desk Reference for Insurance Investors’, provides analysis on potential effects of a major storm season on large insurance companies and the industry as a whole. The report also compares forecasts for the 2015 hurricane season from several market experts, including National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Colorado State University (CSU) and Tropical Storm Research (TSR).

Expert forecasts are leaning toward a less severe North Atlantic hurricane season in 2015. If projections hold true, the State of Florida could reach 10 consecutive years without a Hurricane landfall. The last named storm to make landfall in Florida was Hurricane Wilma on Oct. 24, 2005.

The time span since the last hurricane landfall in Florida has nearly doubled the previous record of hurricane-free years for the state. As Florida’s population and the value of insured property has grown substantially since the last hurricane landfall, Florida’s State government, residents and property insurers companies must remain wary of the devastation that a severe storm would generate.

Early forecasts for the 2015 U.S. hurricane season predict that the North Atlantic Basin will likely produce below-average hurricane frequency relative to long-term results, as a number of environmental forces that serve to inhibit the development of tropical storm activity portend a third consecutive year with below long-term average activity.

Fitch estimates that given the current substantial level of industry capitalization, it would likely take a record individual storm loss or a series of significant losses equal to 15% or more of industry aggregate surplus for consideration of a property/casualty sector outlook movement to negative tied to catastrophe experience.

State-sponsored insurers continue to turn to the capital markets for alternative methods of transferring catastrophe risks. The continued low interest rate environment, along with the desire of state-sponsored insurers to utilize alternatives to the traditional insurance risk transfer market, has generated significant growth in 2015 as repeat sponsors and new entrants have issued $1.4 billion of notes in the first half of the year with named storms as a trigger peril. The growth in 2015 was led by the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA), which issued two tranches of notes totaling $700 million, making it the largest issuance in the market so far this year.

Cass Business School Study Reveals M&A Strategies That Lead to Highest Shareholder Value Creation

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New research, authored by Intralinks Holdings Inc., and City University London’s Cass Business School, has identified the best-performing global businesses in creating shareholder value from mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

The study, ‘Masters of the Deal: Part 2, looks at 20 years of data’, the largest ever analysis of shareholder value creation from M&A, and analyzed 265,000 deals and the performance of over 25,000 global public companies. The research identified 1,469 elite global firms that consistently outperformed their peers in delivering above-average total shareholder returns. A complete list of these best performing companies in M&A can be found on the Intralinks website.

The report also found the common M&A strategies employed by these high performing companies, which had a significant influence on their outperformance. The strategies of these companies, referred to in the report as Excellent Corporate Portfolio Managers (ECPMs), included:

  • Bolder M&A strategies, with greater execution risk – cross-border acquisitions accounted for 38% of the value of all acquisitions by ECPMs versus 28% of the value of all acquisitions by other firms; ECPMs made four times as many hostile acquisitions as other firms.
  • Faster deal completion – 33% of all acquisitions and 33% of all divestments by ECPMs were slow to complete, versus 34% and 39% respectively for other firms.
  • Greater engagement with financial sponsors and public companies – ECPMs engaged in a higher proportion of deals than other firms where the counterparty was a private equity firm or a public company.
  • Greater use of all-cash consideration – 38% of the value of all acquisitions by ECPMs were all-cash, compared to 30% of the value of all acquisitions by other firms.
  • Avoiding large, transformational acquisitions by undertaking smaller acquisitions, relative to their own size, than other firms – the average value of acquisitions by ECPMs was 0.18 times their own sales, versus 0.26 times the buyer’s own sales for non-ECPM firms.
  • Making significantly more acquisitions than divestments – ECPMs made 3.4 times as many acquisitions, by value, than divestments, compared to other firms which, on average, engaged in the same value of acquisition and divestment transactions.
  • Making significant timing adjustments to acquisitions and divestments to align with market conditions and take advantage of valuation opportunities – ECPMs reduced the value of acquisitions relative to divestments during periods when M&A markets and valuation levels are increasing strongly, and significantly increased the value of acquisitions relative to divestments immediately following sharp market downturns.

The Best Performing Companies in M&A

Number of ECPMs per region:

  • US: 588
  • UK: 276
  • Europe, Middle East & Africa excluding UK: 275
  • Asia Pacific: 206
  • Americas excluding the US: 124

The Oil & Gas sector was found to have the highest percentage of firms identified as ECPMs (10.5%), followed by Industrials, Healthcare, and Technology.

Globally, 6% of all companies examined for the report were identified as ECPMS. Regionally, it was European companies that were more likely to qualify as ECPMs. In fact, 12% of listed firms in the UK and France identified as ECPMs, along with 9% of the listed German companies. Even though the US had the highest number of ECPMs (40% of total sample), the US as a region fell below the global average with only 5% of US firms identified as ECPMs.

Firms identified as ECPMs include:

US: Colfax, Concho Resources, Dana Holding, EMC, EV Energy Partners, FleetCor Technologies, Google, IHS, Monsanto, RigNet, Salesforce.com, Targa Resources Partners, TriMas, Vanguard Natural Resources

Europe, Middle East & Africa: Aberdeen Asset Management (UK), Intertek (UK), Mondi (UK), SABMiller (UK), Aros Quality Group (Sweden), HEXPOL (Sweden), AURELIUS (Germany), MBB SE (Germany), SMT Scharf (Germany), Burkhalter (Switzerland), Eurocash (Poland), Eurofins Scientific (Luxembourg), Nizhnekamskneftekhim (Russia), Jeronimo Martins (Portugal), Econocom (Belgium)

Asia Pacific: Hinokiya Holdings (Japan), Maeda Kosen (Japan), Ancom Logistics (Malaysia), C.I. Holdings (Malaysia), Tiong Nam Logistics Holdings (Malaysia), Austin Engineering (Australia), Corporate Travel Management (Australia), M2 Group (Australia), Mineral Resources (Australia), Silver Lake Resources (Australia)

Americas excluding the US: Alimentation Couche-Tard (Canada), Amaya Gaming Group (Canada), Black Diamond Group (Canada), Canadian Energy Services & Technology (Canada), Constellation Software (Canada), GoGold Resources (Canada), SECURE Energy Services (Canada), Trinidad Drilling (Canada), Mexichem (Mexico), TOTVS (Brazil)

 

ANZ and ETF Securities to Launch Six ETFs in Australia in the Coming Weeks

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ANZ and ETF Securities today announced the formation of a joint venture, which will provide a range of exchange traded funds (ETFs) developed for Australian investors and self-managed super funds.

The new company, known as ANZ ETFS Management will list a range of six new ETFs for Australian investors on the Australian Stock Exchange in the coming weeks. The products are designed to be transparent and cost-effective building blocks for Australian investment portfolios, providing exposure to commonly traded equity, commodity and foreign exchange benchmarks.

The joint venture marks the first entry of a major Australian financial institution into the Australian ETF market. It harnesses the securities expertise of ANZ’s Global Markets business, the strength of its Global Wealth and E*TRADE distribution channels and presence in 29 Asia Pacific markets, together with ETF Securities’ global track record in developing innovative exchange traded products.

ANZ ETFS will be based in Sydney and includes employees from both ANZ and ETF Securities. Danny Laidler, ETF Securities’ Head of Australia and New Zealand,  has been appointed Co-Head and Head of Distribution at ANZ ETFS, while Adam Smith, currently Director of Business Execution at ANZ Global Markets, has been appointed Co-Head and Chief Operating Officer of the joint venture.

Eddie Listorti,  ANZ Global Co-Head of Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities, said: “This partnership unites ANZ’s extensive knowledge of Australian financial markets and the domestic investment base, with ETF Securities’ expertise in constructing and operating ETF products. ANZ ETFS’ objective is to provide a range of high quality and low cost investment products that will in time provide diversified exposure to all major asset classes.”

Joyce Phillips, ANZ CEO of Global Wealth, added: “ETFs are increasingly being used by our customers as an important, often tactical, part of their portfolios. ANZ Wealth will continue to offer these, as part of innovative investment solutions, to our customers.”

Graham Tuckwell, Founder and Chairman of ETF Securities, said: “Australia was amongst the pioneers of ETFs over a decade ago, but since then has watched overseas markets adopt them more widely and faster. We believe this is now changing as Australian investors embrace ETFs, investing record levels over the last year. They are recognising ETFs’ multiple advantages, especially intelligent and low cost access to a broad range of benchmarks. This is why we are excited to be partnering with ANZ to offer a new and comprehensive ETF platform, delivering more choice and greater access to Australian investors.”

 

Fried Frank Extends Asset Management Practice to Europe

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Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson announced today that Mark Mifsud, Kate Downey and Alexandra Conroy will join the Firm as partners in the Asset Management Practice, resident in the London office. Mr. Mifsud, Ms. Downey and Ms. Conroy advise fund sponsors and financial institutions across a broad range of asset classes, including private equity, venture and growth, infrastructure, credit and real estate. They also provide advice on carried interest, co-investment and other incentive arrangements.

“We are pleased to welcome Mark, Kate and Alex to Fried Frank’s London office, where they will be instrumental in extending our premiere funds practice in the US to Europe and building a leading global funds practice,” said David Greenwald, chairman of Fried Frank. “They are excellent lawyers with strong commercial sensibilities, and their track record of leadership and client service complements Fried Frank’s commitment to helping our clients with their most sophisticated and challenging matters.”

“Mark, Kate and Alex bring to Fried Frank strong technical skills, deep knowledge of the law and the market, and sound business judgment that clients need to navigate an increasingly complex environment,” said Kenneth Rosh, head of the Fried Frank’s Private Equity Funds Practice. “They share Fried Frank’s values, which include intellectual vigor and partnering with our clients to come up with creative solutions, and they are an important part of the continued growth of our global funds practice.”

Before joining Fried Frank, Mr. Mifsud, Ms. Downey and Ms. Conroy were private funds partners in the London office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP.

This team has extensive experience in advising private fund managers in relation to the structuring and establishment of a wide range of private investment funds. They have developed a market-leading practice, acting for high-profile European and global clients across a range of asset classes, with a particular focus on private equity, infrastructure, energy and credit. 

Both Mr. Mifsud and Ms. Downey are consistently recognized as leading attorneys by Chambers UK, Legal 500 and other directories.  Chambers has described Mr. Mifsud as “incredibly intelligent” and a “superb lawyer in this field,” and they have described Ms. Downey as “extremely smart and effective” and a “go to lawyer for fund manager clients.”