Biography: Private funds

Deputy chair of the corporate department and a member of the firm's management committee, Marco V Masotti is widely recognised as one of the leading lawyers in the global alternative asset management industry. He has a unique profile in the marketplace as an adviser to a wide variety of investment funds, including buyout funds, hedge funds, hybrid funds, distressed funds, seed capital funds, infrastructure funds, real assets funds and funds of funds. He also advises on the full spectrum of investment management M&A transactions, including acquisitions, divestitures, majority and minority stake investments and spin-outs.

Mr Masotti has represented some of the largest and well-known alternative investment managers, including: Avenue Capital; Bass/Oak Hill; BlackRock; Blackstone/GSO; Fortress; General Atlantic; Harvest; LNK Partners; Moelis; Quadrangle; Reservoir Capital; Sageview; ValueAct; Värde; and Wellspring Capital. Importantly, Mr Masotti has assisted with a number of recent investment management M&A transactions, including: Moelis/Gracie Credit; R3/Lehman/BlackRock; Avenue Capital/Morgan Stanley; Oak Hill Advisors/iStar; Ore Hill/Man Group; and Quellos/BlackRock.

Mr Masotti is among a handful of lawyers ranked by Chambers USA (2011) as a top practitioner in both the publication's private equity and hedge fund categories. According to Chambers, clients and other lawyers praise his 'creativity, practicality, business acumen, communication skills and personable manner'. He has been profiled by Crain's New York Business for its annual "40 Under 40" list, by the New York Observer as one of New York's top corporate lawyers and by Institutional Investor as a "Rising Star". He is also named as a leading lawyer in The Best Lawyers in America for private funds/hedge funds law.

Mr Masotti is routinely called by leading financial journalists to provide commentary on developments in the private funds marketplace. He has been quoted extensively in the print media (including the Financial Times, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal) and has been a guest commentator on cable television networks, including Bloomberg Television. His recent conference presentations include the American Lawyer Media General Counsel Hedge Fund Summit, Argyle Executive Forum's Leadership in the Private Capital Markets conference, the Dow Jones/Private Equity Analyst conference, International Bar Association's Annual Conference on Private Investment Funds, Practising Law Institute's Hedge Funds 2009 conference and 10th Annual Private Equity Forum and Wharton's Private Equity and Venture Capital Conference.

Mr Masotti is the former chair of the committee on private investment funds of the New York City Bar and serves as a member of the Private Investment Funds Forum, the Managed Funds Association, the American Bar Association and the International Bar Association.

Mr Masotti was awarded a Fulbright Placement Award upon graduating from the University of Natal Faculty of Law.