LAWYER
Claire Bentley
Partner | London
Claire Bentley

Claire Bentley focuses her practice on investment fund transactions, including advising sponsors on the structuring, establishment, marketing and management of private funds in a range of jurisdictions and across a range of asset classes, principally private equity, private credit, real estate and venture capital, as well as on related private funds matters, including GP and LP-led secondary transactions, co-investments, separately managed accounts, carried interest arrangements, management team spin-outs and other fund restructurings. Ms. Bentley also advises institutional investors on investments into various types of funds.

Ms. Bentley also serves on the editorial board of THE CRED, Dechert's resource for private credit industry insights on legal and business trends.

Ms. Bentley is listed in The Legal 500, UK 2023, with one client stating that she has been “excellent on a recent fund launch”. The Legal 500 Asia Pacific has also recognized Ms. Bentley as a "Next Generation Lawyer" for her work in investment funds in Singapore, noting her as “standout” and that she “works very hard and delivers a great client service”. She was also recognized by Chambers Asia-Pacific as an “Associate to Watch”, noting that she is an “incredibly dedicated, hard-working and knowledgeable” practitioner and “technically very strong”; clients particularly enthuse about her efficiency and attention to detail, noting that “she is hard-working and responsive and delivers exactly what we want”. Ms. Bentley was named as a finalist in the Corporate Rising Star category of Euromoney’s EMEA Women in Business Law Awards 2022 and has previously been shortlisted as a Rising Star in Investment Funds (Europe).

Prior to joining Dechert, Ms. Bentley was based in the Singapore and London offices of another international law firm, as an associate in the investment funds practice.

  • A leading European private debt manager on the raising of several Luxembourg-domiciled debt fund offerings, together raising several billion Euros in commitments, as well as on various related managed accounts.
  • A global investment management firm on the raising of several global funds of private debt funds, together raising several billion Euros in commitments, as well as on their downstream investments.
  • A UK manager on the raising of its first fund, targeting control-oriented private equity investments in lower mid-market companies in Europe, as well as on its carried interest arrangements.
  • A China-focused asset manager on the raising of several multi-billion dollar buyout funds, various downstream investments and co-investments for such funds as well as the manager’s carried interest schemes and team co-invest arrangements.
  • The management team of a Singapore-based fund-of-funds in relation to certain spin-out arrangements and the subsequent raising of their next fund.
  • A Singapore-based VC manager in relation to the formation of several venture capital funds focused on investments in early-stage technology companies in South-East Asia.
  • A Japanese bank in its disposal of several portfolios of private equity fund stakes worth several billion dollars to multiple secondary fund purchasers.
  • A Taiwanese bank in its disposal of a portfolio of limited partnership interests to a syndicate of fund-of-funds and sovereign investors as part of a stapled secondary transaction, structured as a sale to a new fund vehicle managed by an affiliate of the bank.
  • An Asian real estate manager in relation to the formation of its first and second private equity real-estate funds focused on investments in Singapore and East Asia.
  • A Singapore-based investment manager on the disposal of a portfolio of debt and equity assets to a continuation fund backed by rollover investors as well as new secondary purchasers.
  • Various limited partners, including sovereign wealth funds, funds-of-funds, superannuation funds and pension funds on their commitments to European, Asian and US private equity, private debt and real estate funds and related co-investment transactions.

Includes matters handled at Dechert or prior to joining the firm. 

Services Industries
    • University of Oxford, B.A., 2006
    • BPP Law School, Legal Practice Course, 2007
    • Solicitor, England and Wales
    • Italian