Private Equity Compliance With ERISA: Fiduciary Duties in Managing ERISA Plan Assets

BARBRI

This CLE course will prepare counsel representing private equity funds and private equity professionals to meet the challenges under ERISA that apply to fund managers who are responsible for investing the assets of a fund that holds ERISA plan assets. The program will cover the impact on private equity firms of court rulings discussing specific joint and several liabilities under ERISA plans. 

Description

ERISA imposes fiduciary obligations on private equity managers responsible for investing fund assets in connection with funds that hold "plan assets". To avoid becoming subject to ERISA's fiduciary and other requirements, funds must structure their investments to comply with an exception to ERISA's "plan asset" rules. If the funds are intended or required to be subject to ERISA, ERISA's requirements will affect fund operations in many ways.

Also, specific ERISA plans of portfolio companies can expose a fund to significant joint and several liabilities under Title IV of ERISA for all companies that are part of a "controlled group" as defined under Title IV of ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. Funds should identify such ERISA plans in due diligence before purchasing a portfolio company that sponsors such a plan and structure their investments to minimize the risk that these liabilities will become liabilities of the fund.

Listen as our authoritative panel of ERISA attorneys discusses the fiduciary obligations under ERISA that apply to private equity fund managers responsible for investing the assets of a fund that holds ERISA plan assets. The panel will focus on the duty to avoid prohibited transactions, relevant case law, and the Department of Labor’s new regulations containing a safe harbor for plan investments, including alternative investments.

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