Why Private Equity Fund Terms Are Lengthening

Offering counsel in the Cayman Islands provides a ringside seat on the trend towards longer-term funds and how the secondaries market is developing, write Rolf Lindsay and Andrew Barker from Walkers.

At first sight, a set of sun-soaked islands in the Caribbean may not seem the most obvious candidate as a global trendsetter. But for the private equity industry, at least, the Cayman Islands is at the cutting edge of innovative new fund models.

Long established as the foremost jurisdiction for the formation of offshore private equity structures, the Cayman Islands has seen 17,967 exempted limited partnerships – the typical vehicle used for the formation of private equity funds in Cayman – registered between January 2009 and October 2016.