Simmons Italy was awarded Best Regulatory Team of the Year at the 2019 TopLegal Awards ceremony held in Rome on 21 November. The awards mark one of the most important nights of the year for Italian business lawyers as TopLegal is a leading authority publication in Italy.
The jury justified the accolade by highlighting the team’s unparalleled expertise, referencing its assistance of Blackstone in obtaining one of the first direct lending authorisations to be granted by the Bank of Italy to a foreign alternative investment fund.
The Italian team obtained this authorisation for five of the Blackstone’s Irish platform funds, followed by a sixth one, finalised in little more than a month. To obtain the authorisation, a number of amendments to the funds’ regulations were required in order to align relevant provisions to the more restrictive rules applicable to Italian alternative funds. The approval will provide a significant commercial advantage against other players, allowing Blackstone to actively market its direct lending capabilities, a tool which very few international funds can currently deploy.
Romeo Battigaglia, head of financial markets for Italy commented:
“We advise on transactions that are critical to our clients and of strategic importance to their business, being at the cutting-edge of client value and delivering high level service. We are really pleased with this prestigious award, which is a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone in our team”.
The night’s winners were selected by a joint team composed of TopLegal journalists and researchers working throughout the year. Assisting them was a 34-strong panel of in-house legal experts drawn from a cross-section of domestic and international corporates and financial institutions based in Italy.