Trey Muldrow and Fadi Samman Discuss Secondary Investments with Corporate Counsel Business Journal

Trey Muldrow and Fadi Samman, partners in the corporate and investment management practices, respectively, at Akin Gump, were featured in the Corporate Counsel Business Journal article “Unique Experience Means Unique Insight Into Investment Management.” The two discuss the ways their respective practice areas work together as well as some of the finer points of various primary and secondary market investment deals.

Muldrow and Samman began by talking about their respective practices, which Samman said has included “some interesting transactions beyond traditional fund formation or limited partnership investments.” One area, in particular, is the secondary market, where he started to help clients sell fund interests nearly 15 years ago. Muldrow noted that he has been working on transactions involving investment funds “that are seeking liquidity solutions for their limited partners or the general partner.”

Samman also spoke about some of the differences for investors making transactions in markets such as private equity secondary funds. This has included “the evolution of the secondary market from one-off limited partnership sales to more complex transactions.” The general partner, he pointed out, is now a meaningful player in the process.

One difference that Muldrow sees, is that there tend to be fewer opportunities “for traditional M&A deep-dive due diligence” because “there either isn’t time or, because of the breadth of assets involved, you just don’t have the ability to conduct a more intensive analysis.” As a result, he said, “the industry is coming to a general understanding of what the seller is willing to provide and what the buyer is seeking to receive.”

To read the full Q&A, please click here.