Baker & McKenzie opens Luxembourg office

Baker & McKenzie has expanded its reach in Europe, opening a new office in Luxembourg, making it the firm’s 68th location and 40th country worldwide.

“It’s been a good time [to open an office in Luxembourg] for some years, but we wanted to assemble a great team and we’ve done it,” said James Burdett, a partner and head of the investment funds group, in an interview.

The Luxembourg office will have a team of 20 attorneys and tax advisors, specializing in corporate and M&A, banking, funds and tax advice.

The office will be led by Jean-Francois Findling and André Pesch.  Findling joins the firm from Luxembourg-based firm Findling Collin Fessmann. Findling’s current partners, Raphaël Collin and Laurent Fessmann and their team of associates will join Baker & McKenzie as well. Pesch, who will lead the team of tax advisors, joins from Ernst & Young.

“It’s particularly a good time now [to open an office in Luxembourg] as there are a number of upcoming regulatory changes in Europe, most notably the move to regulate fund managers under the AIFM directive,” said Burdett.

If the European Union’s AIFM directive passes as written, non-EU funds must apply for a “passport” to market within the EU. To do so, they must prove they are subject to regulatory oversight that is equivalently rigorous to that of the EU. As the directive is currently written, the earliest a non-EU fund would be able to market within the EU is three years after the directive goes into effect.

For funds in popular offshore jurisdictions such as Mauritius and the Cayman Islands, this would effectively halt their European marketing. But for funds registered in Luxembourg, a founding member of the EU, business could continue as usual.

A number of other firms have opened operations in Luxembourg in recent months.

In August, Apex Fund Services opened a Luxembourg office. In addition to servicing public and private funds domiciled in Luxembourg, the new office provides fund administrator services for three types of fund platform. Fund platforms provide an established investment vehicle for multiple GPs, allowing managers to bypass the time and expense of establishing a stand-alone fund.

In January, private equity and real estate fund administrator Augentius launched operations in Luxembourg.  Augentius had been looking into establishing a presence in Luxembourg for two years, but the final decision to set up in Luxembourg is a response to increased demand from the firm’s European and US clients in the last year.