On 5 June 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the Private Fund Adviser rule (“Rule”) in its entirety on the grounds that the SEC, in enacting the Rule, had exceeded its statutory authority. The Rule was adopted by the SEC in August 2023 and would have fundamentally changed the regulatory landscape for private equity funds and their investors. The outcome was somewhat unexpected as in oral arguments the petitioners only directly challenged three of the five provisions that make-up the Rule and there was significant discussion as to whether the five provisions of the Rule should be considered a single rule or if the five provisions should be considered separately.

The coronavirus pandemic has created a series of unprecedented challenges for fund sponsors and general partners (collectively, GPs) of closed-ended private funds in relation to the capital raising and operation of their funds. This article analyses some of the key issues for GPs to consider in these turbulent times. Further…