Maples Group Selected to Support Groundbreaking Indo-Japan Fund

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The Maples Group, a leading service provider offering clients a comprehensive range of legal, fiduciary, fund, regulatory and compliance, and entity formation and management services, has announced that it has been selected to provide Cayman Islands legal advice and trustee, management company, fund administration and directorship services to Indo-Japan Emerging Technology & Innovation Fund (the "Fund").

The Fund will invest substantially all of its assets into Indo-Japan Emerging Technology & Innovation AIF (the "FoF"), a US$187 million fund-of-funds managed by Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd (RNAM), the Indian asset management arm of Nippon Life. The Fund will be offered in Japan to Japanese institutional investors.

The FoF is the result of a joint initiative between Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry and has just been announced at the G-20 this week. The unique strategic intent of the Fund is to combine the core strengths of both countries to provide large investors with access to source ideation and technology, as well as to provide a platform for collaboration and strategic investment in start-ups. The FoF expects to manage a portfolio of 15 to 25 India-focused venture capital funds investing in technology start-ups in emerging fields, including the internet of things, artificial intelligence, machine learning, fintech, healthcare, consumer, education, robotics and automation and business-to-business software.

The Maples Group’s Japanese Funds practice has market-leading experience in structuring private equity type unit trusts, supporting the delivery of a seamless solution tailored to the unique needs of the Fund which will be structured as a Cayman Islands private equity type unit trust. The Maples Group team is led by Hong Kong partner, Nick Harrold and Regional Head of Fund Services-Asia, Eastern Fong and is supported by an extensive team of lawyers and fund and fiduciary services professionals in both Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands.

"The launch of the Fund is reflective of a progressive trend in the market whereby an increasing number of Japanese institutional investors are seeking exposure to alternative investments, typically through the private equity type unit trust structure," said Harrold. "The Fund represents an important evolution in the structure as it is able to accommodate a large number of investors, and multiple closings, whereas earlier iterations of the structure were essentially limited to only one or two investors coming into the fund on a single closing. This additional flexibility is likely to mean that alternative investments will become even more accessible to Japanese institutional investors."

The Maples Group’s comprehensive offering combines local and global expertise. With offices in 18 locations worldwide and over 350 lawyers and professionals based in Hong Kong, China and Singapore, the Maples Group is ideally placed to act for Asia Pacific-based clients on multi-jurisdictional transactions.

In January 2019, Maples and Calder and MaplesFS consolidated their offerings under a single brand, now called the Maples Group, bringing together their internationally recognised offerings.