University of Cape Town

Westerford High School

Consulting (general and legal) specialising in financial services, investment funds and public financial management. EAFM Lecturer in Economics Department, UCT.

Cape Town Area, South Africa

Attune is a full service legal and consulting operation specialising in the industries of financial services, investment funds, start-ups and public funding of large-scale environmental projects.Our legal consulting focuses on financial services, asset and wealth management and commercial contracts which includes: FAIS, CISCA, Hedge Fund regulations, Bank's Act, FICA, Regulation 28, FMA, JSE listing requirements, Companies Act and cryptocurrencies. Our services include: drafting and negotiating contracts, legal due diligence, legal consulting on financial regulatory issues and training on legal requirements and the provision of compliance services.Our business consulting is focused on start-ups with the ability to assist in all aspects of a new business's legal requirements including company registration, shareholders agreement and contracts with suppliers and customers. Often the requirements of a start-up extend beyond legal advice and so we also provide business consulting services to start-ups.Attune has also collaborated with local and international consulting companies to provide legal and business support in reviews and feasibility reports for bulk water supply and renewable energy projects reliant on public and private funding.

Attune Solutions (Pty) Ltd

Director

Senior technical expert advising the African Union on the financial rules and investment fund management of the African Union Peace Fund. Expert on the Evaluation Committee for appointment of fund manager for the African Union Peace Fund. The focus for the African Union is on international best practice for fund management and for an international organisation.

African Union

Senior Technical Expert

Consultant Lecturer in Securities Legislation for the Honours Programme in Financial Analysis & Portfolio Management (FAPM) for the Economics Department at the University of Cape Town. I lecture two course modules twice a year and supervise long papers specialising in stokvels, cryptocurrency, corporate governance, money laundering, hedge funds, collective investment schemes, private equity and twin peaks regulatory regimes.

Consultant Lecturer

My position involved legal work across a wide range of international clients (including fund promoters, investment managers and service providers) assisting with the establishment and operation of investment funds (including UCITS, QIAIFs, RIAIFs, and ICAVs) and investment managers (AIFMs). This required a good working knowledge of the applicable European and Irish (Central Bank) legislation particularly UCITS and the AIFMD and provided an opportunity to work with role players on an international level.

Arthur Cox

Foreign Qualified Lawyer in Asset Management and Investment Funds

I was the legal advisor for the hedge fund business in the Sanlam Investments cluster which included Blue Ink Investments (fund of hedge funds manager) and Sanlam Alternatives (a hedge fund investment manager). South Africa implemented new hedge fund regulations in 2015 regulating the hedge fund industry for the first time. This placed me in the unique position of the co-ordination of the new regulatory regime’s impact on Sanlam’s contractual relationships with the key role players in the industry. This role developed my project management skills in the co-ordination and timing of the hedge fund application with the business. It also enhanced my negotiation skills in ensuring consensus from a number of parties on key legal issues balanced against practical considerations of hedge fund operations. I serviced a number of the other Sanlam Investments business units with their investment and corporate legal requirements including Sanlam Collective Investments (a collective investments scheme manager), SATRIX (an index tracker funds manager) and Sanlam Investment Management (an asset manager). Working as an in-house legal advisor across a number of clients provided me with practical exposure to their business operations including each business unit’s individual value proposition and operational, financial and legal risks. I also presented to clients on relevant legal developments to help them understand the impact on their business units.

Sanlam

Legal Advisor at Sanlam Investments

I worked as an associate in the Financial Services and Investment Managment practice of the Banking & Finance department.  I advised a broad range of clients (both foreign and local) on all aspects of South African regulatory work as it pertained to financial services and investment management, including advising domestic and foreign banks on South African banking law, registration of foreign collective investment schemes, registration for different types of categories of financial services provider licences and drafting and negotiating investment advisory and custodial agreements. The role at Bowman Gilfillan allowed me to develop leadership skills by training and supervising a number of junior associates and candidate attorneys. It also provided me with business development experience which was necessary for the new and expanding FSIM team including meeting and canvassing potential clients and presenting on pertinent regulatory issues for clients.

Bowman Gilfillan

Associate in Financial Services and Investment Management

I worked as an associate in the Corporate Department with the focus on capital markets and M&A transactions. My position as a junior associate including the completion of due diligences, prospectus reviews and drafting of closing documentation. The transactional role at David, Polk & Wardwell LLP exposed me to different financial funding options for businesses from IPOs, to debt and equity offerings and M&A transactions. It also provided me with some invaluable insight into the timelines and pressures of our clients which were top tier international investment banks acting as the underwriters for these types of transactions. Notable transactions included:o	Select Medical IPO – September 2009Advised Goldman, Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. as joint book-running managers in connection with the $300 million initial public offering of 30,000,000 shares of stock of Select Medical Holdings Corporation. o	PepsiCo Inc. – October 2008Advised PepsiCo Inc. in the public offering of 7.9% Senior Notes due in 2018.  o	AirTran Common Stock and Convertible Notes Offerings – June 2008Advised Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated as sole bookrunner and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC as co-lead manager of concurrent registered public offerings by AirTran Holdings Inc. of 24,659,375 shares of AirTran’s common stock (including 2,346,875 shares included in the partial exercise of the over-allotment option) and $74.75 million principal amount of AirTran’s 5.50% convertible notes due 2015.

Kerry Kopke