Carey Olsen has cemented its position as the top legal adviser to the investment funds industry in Guernsey, according to the latest findings of independent research group Monterey Insight.
The 25th edition of the annual Guernsey Fund Report, which provides a comprehensive analysis of the performance of all funds serviced in Guernsey and their primary service providers, reports that for the year ending 30 June 2019, Carey Olsen provided legal advice to 798 Guernsey regulated investment funds, up from 750 a year previously, and now more than 600 ahead of its nearest competitor.
Of those 798 funds, 675 were Guernsey domiciled schemes, which represents 82.4% of the entire Guernsey market by AUM and an increase of US$17.2 billion (6.8%) over the year to US$270.1 billion.
Overall, Monterey Insight found that the total value of fund assets serviced in Guernsey increased to US$412.0bn at the end of June 2019, up 3.2% compared to 2018. The number of serviced schemes now stands at 1,065, while the total number of sub-funds reached 1,289.
Ben Morgan, partner and head of Carey Olsen’s corporate and finance group in Guernsey, said: “The year-on-year growth in AUM shows the continued attractiveness of the jurisdiction as a specialist funds centre, which is evidenced by the surge in new fund managers coming to Guernsey and a bumper year for private equity fundraising among the larger fund managers who already use Guernsey.
“As a firm, Carey Olsen is delighted to have once again retained our position as the leading legal adviser of Guernsey serviced funds, increasing our market share both by total number of funds and total assets. The results are a credit to our team’s high level of expertise, experience and dedication.”
The findings of Monterey Insight follow the publication of the latest Chambers UK and Legal 500 UK rankings at the end of last year which saw Carey Olsen remain as the only Guernsey law firm to gain top-tier rankings in both the ‘corporate & finance including investment funds’ (Chambers) and ‘investment funds’ (Legal 500) categories of those directories.
