Fund Raising in the EU; Why All Roads Lead to Luxembourg

Guillaume Benoit, senior associate, is a member of the Investment Management Practice Group in our Luxembourg office. Guillaume is an attorney at law in the Investment Management Practice Group. Before joining Loyens & Loeff in 2015, he worked as engineer and project manager for three years in a Luxembourg company developing mainly photovoltaic systems in France, Germany and Belgium.

Guillaume advises fund sponsors on the structuring, formation and regulatory compliance of private equity funds and their management companies.

Jervis Smith was appointed Country Managing Director of Vistra Luxembourg in September 2019.

Being one of the senior managers at Vistra, Jervis brings extensive local and international experience in leadership and client management to our organisation. With more than 35 years of experience in the banking and finance industry, Jervis has considerable international expertise, especially in Banking.

Prior to joining Vistra, Jervis spent 25 years with Citi, most recently as Head of Investor Services, Luxembourg, where he managed the product and business development of investor services catered to banks, pensions, insurances and asset managers across the globe.

Previously, he was Head of Sales for APAC in Hong Kong, Global Head of Client Executives for Securities Services in London, Head of Financial Institutions for Managed Funds and the Middle East, and held other senior roles with financial institutions for the firm based in London and New York.

Jervis speaks both English and French fluently.

Jan is the Managing Director and one of the Conducting Officers of Vistra Fund Management S.A. (VFM). VFM is Vistra’s third party alternative investment fund manager (AIFM) focusing on private equity and real estate investment funds.

He joined Vistra in January 2011 and was appointed as a Managing Director of Vistra Fund Services Luxembourg in March 2012.

Jan is a fully qualified and trained lawyer in Luxembourg and worked for seven years in fund departments of UK magic circle law firms in Luxembourg.

He has extensive knowledge in structuring unregulated and AIFMD compliant alternative investment funds. He is involved in business development activities, provides support in regulatory matters and assists developing fund services globally as part of Vistra’s Alternative Investments Board.

Jan is a French/German national and he holds a triple major in private/commercial law and foreign languages as well as an LLM in American law from Boston University School of Law.

Frank van Kuijk, partner, is a member of our Investment Management practice group. Based in our New York office, he focuses on the structuring and regulatory work for alternative investment fund managers. 

Frank specialises in advising, predominantly, US fund managers on Luxembourg fund formation and acquisition structuring work. He has a focus on private equity, real estate, infrastructure, venture capital and debt funds.

Frank’s advice is characterised by tailored solutions factoring in EU regulatory and tax aspects relevant in the different stages of the fund’s life cycle. He has an outstanding eye for US and international investor needs and how to accommodate these.

He worked at the Rotterdam and the London offices prior to joining the Luxembourg office for more than 10 years. Putting his broad international experience into practice, he is currently working in our New York office as of August 2022.