Hedge Funds Nuts & Bolts Webinar Series: The Sun Never Sets on ERISA - ERISA's Impact on Global Hedge Funds

U.S. pension plans continue to play a growing part of the global marketplace for investment capital. As a result, the statute that comprehensively governs private U.S. employee benefit plans, known as ERISA, plays an ever-growing part in the structuring, establishment and marketing of hedge funds and other investment funds. At one time, fund sponsors seemed almost willing to walk away from ERISA investment, due to the complexity of the applicable legal rules. Then, as time went on, and as U.S. pension money grew and the trend towards collective investment accelerated, funds seemed more willing to accept ERISA investment, but limited in amount so that the fiduciary rules of ERISA would not apply to the funds themselves. Now, greater and greater numbers of managers are ultimately willing, where possible, to accept unlimited ERISA investment even if it means that the manager would be subject to the full panoply of ERISA regulation.