In this edition of SteelBridge Insights, the SteelBridge team explores the new rules and amendments recently issued by the SEC under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, focusing on their implications for private fund advisers’ reporting requirements, disclosures, and activities. These changes will have a substantial burden on advisers in terms of compliance and introduce significant limitations on established practices of both registered and unregistered advisers. SteelBridge is available as a partner to advisers as they navigate this new world of complex and time-consuming compliance requirements in the investment advisory industry.

This special addition of SteelBridge Insights discusses the significant challenges faced by alternative asset firms in managing and utilizing the massive influx of data from various sources. It emphasizes the importance of implementing effective data management, storage, analysis, and reporting strategies. The SteelBridge approach involves collaborating with technology vendors to guide clients in tackling data management challenges. The SteelBridge solution is a successful approach to building a best-in-class operating and technology infrastructure, eliminating historical challenges of disconnected systems and manual intervention for reporting and analysis.

As the world of opportunity zones continues to evolve, the SteelBridge team is not only monitoring the situation.  Rather, we are actively engaged in helping shape the landscape for fund managers and investors.  Here, we provide an overview of how we see opportunity zone funds forming as well as some outstanding questions and comments.  “As Treasury and the IRS mold the regulations, it’s important that all stakeholders’ voices are heard,” said SteelBridge Consultant Brant Garda.  “We’re acting on their behalf to help ensure sound policy and reporting are the end result.”

In this special edition of SteelBridge Insights, the SteelBridge team, along with industry experts, explores the federal government’s creation of Opportunity Zones – allowing fund managers to form Qualified Opportunity Funds.  This initiative gives investors that ability to enjoy tax-advantaged treatment of their capital gains while helping to improve low-income urban and rural communities.  “OZs have generated a lot of buzz in the industry,” says SteelBridge Consultant Brant Garda.  “They create some interesting challenges for fund managers but, if navigated properly, some fantastic opportunities for long-term investment strategies and good community relations.”

The global hotel and hospitality management software market is currently experiencing an upsurge in demand for smart hospitality software and services. The fragmented structure of the hotel industry — split among the various interests of property owners, brands, and operators — is the biggest challenge when making these purchase and implementation decisions. In this edition of SteelBridge Insights our Portfolio Company Services team discusses the market trends, the challenges facing the industry, and the major players in this software space, as well as the keys to a successful implementation.

In Part 2 of its three-part series – Driving Portfolio Company Value – SteelBridge delves into key elements of planning for portfolio company success.  That planning process drives early goals in the first 100 days as well as longer-term decision making.  “As an objective third party, it’s been extremely beneficial to work alongside portfolio companies and their investors,” said SteelBridge Consultant David Larason.  “Together we’ve created unique opportunities for growth and, ultimately, a successful exit.”

This edition of SteelBridge Insights marks the first of a three-part series on driving portfolio company value at the fund manager level.  “We begin to look at the value of a company in three stages – pre-deal, life in the portfolio, and the exit.  From there, we get into the weeds of helping firms build better companies,” said SteelBridge Managing Partner James Haluszczak.  In part one, the SteelBridge team addresses some elements of conducting good due diligence before closing a deal.

As private capital firms grow, they often find themselves faced with the challenge of managing the many investor, vendor, and portfolio relations that accompany growth.  “This is a good problem to have,” said SteelBridge Consultant Brant Garda, “But it’s one that requires careful consideration, especially when designing a solution.”  In this edition of SteelBridge Insights, the team addresses some of the process and product variables to consider when selecting and implementing a CRM system.

The SteelBridge team has released a whitepaper that discusses the challenges of the financial statement reporting process and how firms can identify solutions that can better streamline this process. “This topic should be of particular interest to firms’ CFOs who strive to improve reporting operations and to identify technologies that will help drive efficiencies such as lowering costs and establishing more reporting accuracy and transparency,” says author and SteelBridge West Coast Director, Tony Schmidt. The paper then addresses opportunities around reporting technologies and discusses how a venture capital firm implemented a new reporting approach that gave them a new level of automation, yet still provided them the flexibility they required.

As the world endures the geopolitical turmoil that arises from such major events, those in Private Capital find themselves wondering how their industry will be affected. “We’re facing a long process with a number of unknowns,” said SteelBridge Consultant Muthena Alsahlani. “Brexit presents a number of new variables, creating some unique risks and opportunities for Private Capital.” In this special edition of SteelBridge Insights, the SteelBridge team opines on what we believe to be focal points for the industry as Brexit unfolds.

Inspired by the recent release of new SEC Regulations, SteelBridge has released an overview of developments in the crowdfunding arena.  In this edition of SteelBridge Insights, the SteelBridge team provides a “12,000 foot” view of crowdfunding and a summary of the new regulations.  The team also offers commentary on how crowdfunding will impact the Private Capital marketplace.  “The advent of crowdfunding has a profound impact on how investors interact with early-stage investments.  Ultimately, we see this burgeoning field as a boon for the entire funding cycle,” said SteelBridge Director Tony Schmidt.

The SteelBridge team has released a paper discussing the significance of conducting regular due diligence in fund managers’ operations. In it, SteelBridge highlights three crucial areas to examine – a manager’s business model, its day-to-day processes, and the people who execute on both. The team opines on the importance of bringing in third parties to provide an objective view of each of these operational pillars. “The success of a fund is no longer just about performance,” said SteelBridge Director Paul Landi. “In this era of information and disclosure, investors are looking beyond the numbers in the financial reports to decide on where they’ll make commitments. Managers now must ensure all their resources are running smoothly to generate positive investor relations and really drive returns.”

SteelBridge releases whitepaper on how to perform a successful acquisition implementation. For every deal, there is a specific set of activities needed beyond the actual transaction to successfully complete the integration. “We help our clients stay on track with their pre- and post-integration activities and let them know when they’ve gone off course,” says James Haluszczak, SteelBridge Managing Partner. “We provide an independent, third party perspective to help both teams navigate through tricky areas like meshing corporate cultures and determining resource capacity for the merger while continuing to run the business.” From initial target through the first 100 days post-aquisition, trust SteelBridge to be your valued partner and advisor for all your integration and acquisition needs.

SteelBridge has released a whitepaper on the challenges fund managers are facing in meeting regulator demand for gathering private fund information. Given our position in the industry, SteelBridge has been asked by numerous clients to help them respond to these requests. From our vantage point, we are able to help identify challenges and affect change to resolve them. We are also very aware that this change comes with a price. The costs that managers are incurring are not only monetary but also in the allocation of other valuable resources. In human capital, for example, we are seeing burn-out due to the burden of multiple filings, resulting in a drain of top talent. It is our opinion that the industry and our clients are currently not positioned to effectively react to this abrupt, significant change. It is therefore our goal to equip our clients by helping them affect process, data, and technical change to more efficiently respond to regulators’ information-gathering requests.

“We looked forward to building this whitepaper given our heavy involvement in the recent 2014 Form PF filing. We hope that you will enjoy the quick read and feel some comfort knowing that there is a firm like SteelBridge here to help with the uphill battle of a changing, more regulated industry,” says James Haluszczak, Managing Partner of SteelBridge.

SteelBridge releases whitepaper discussing data reconciliation for Private Capital firms. SteelBridge teams regularly encounter scenarios where clients amass large quantities of data and are required to report both to their investors and to regulators. “Ensuring that systems mesh is a challenge for many of our clients,” says Managing Partner James Haluszczak. “We often see firms balancing in-house data warehouses with third party systems and manual inputs, and that can challenge data transparency efforts.” In the paper, SteelBridge posits some solutions for reconciling and integrating systems as well as suggestions on ideal data reconciliation and automation opportunities.

SteelBridge releases a whitepaper on how private capital managers can overcome the challenges in obtaining and maintaining investor commitments. As the leading boutique fund advisory services firm with expertise in private capital, SteelBridge is uniquely positioned to discuss how partnering with a fundraising and investor relations expert can deliver benefits to investment managers on multiple fronts. “We help investment managers face the challenges of fundraising every day, this paper provides some insight on how to manage those challenges,” says James Haluszczak, Managing Partner of SteelBridge. “And we welcome you to download our whitepaper to learn more about the value of partnering with a fundraising and investor relations expert.”