Covington & Burling LLP | Biographies

Simon Currie is a partner in the firm’s corporate group and is based in the London office. He specialises in financial services regulation and investment funds and advises in particular on securities and financial services regulatory issues in relation to the investment industry, including the application of EU single market directives and the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the conduct of business and other rules of the Financial Services Authority, collective investment schemes, authorisation applications, customer documentation, the development of new products and general compliance issues.

Mr. Currie's practice includes advising on the structuring and establishment of investment funds of a variety of types, including investment trusts, other UK domestic and off-shore investment funds and separate account investment vehicles. He also advises institutional investors in relation to investment in private equity and other investment funds, including by way of the acquisition of secondary interests in such funds.

Mr. Currie’s clients include banks, fund managers, investment managers and investment intermediaries.

He is chair of the Financial Services Sub-Committee of the Law Society Company Law Committee, a practitioner body which reviews and comments on developments in EU and UK financial services legislation and regulation.

Representative Matters

Advised on a transfer of retail and corporate banking business to a newly established UK subsidiary bank by way of a banking business transfer scheme under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
Advised an overseas securities firm on the UK regulatory and corporate aspects of the sale of its FSA regulated subsidiaries to a Financial Institution in a deal involving complex deferred consideration in the form of conditional shares.
Advised a UK investment manager on its conversion to limited liability partnership and related transfer of its existing business.
Advised on the structuring and implementation of arrangements for group trading in the UK in freight forward agreements and fuel rate derivatives under exemptions from the FSMA 2000.
Advised an institutional investor on its initiation of a restructuring and winding-up of a $100m hedge fund of funds, including the acquisition of minority investor interests and the distribution of the underlying investments.
Advised on the structuring and establishment of various separate account investment vehicles for use in the context of significant discretionary private equity investment mandates from European based pension funds.
Advised on draft EU legislation regulating alternative investment fund managers and OTC derivatives.
Advised on the application of the Payment Services Directive to various client activities.