Private Equity Compliance With ERISA: Navigating Manager Fiduciary Duties for Funds Holding ERISA Plan Assets

Partners Maureen O’Brien and Todd A. Solomon, will prepare counsel representing private equity funds to meet fiduciary obligations under ERISA that apply to fund managers who are responsible for investing the assets of a fund that holds ERISA plan assets. The panel will particularly focus on the duty to avoid prohibited transactions. The program will cover implications of the DOL fiduciary rule for fund managers as well as the impact on private equity firms of the Sun Capital ruling triggering withdrawal liability for a portfolio company’s union pension obligations.

The panel will review these and other key issues:

• What fiduciary duties does ERISA impose on private equity managers who invest fund assets that hold ERISA plan assets?
• How can fund managers take advantage of the exceptions to the ERISA prohibited transactions obligation?
• How does the DOL’s fiduciary duty rule apply to private equity fund managers?
• What are the implications of the Sun Capital ruling on private equity funds and their portfolio companies?