Travers Smith LLP has announced today the hire of Joel Grossmark as a partner in the Funds group, further strengthening its market-leading retailisation practice.
Joel joins Travers Smith from Blackstone Credit and Insurance, where he has led the legal function in Europe for the past five and a half years. His unique expertise in retailisation and product development, as well as his experience leading related Industry Association policy discussions, will bring additional value to fund managers looking to diversify their investor base and launch new products specifically designed for private bank and wealth management clients.
These new products offer individuals access to strategies previously only available to financial institutions, such as private equity, private credit, infrastructure, secondaries and real estate. Travers Smith is already a leader in this area, advising the likes of Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions and Carlyle on their wealth management products, and playing a leading role in Industry Association policy discussions. This market leading reputation has led to a large number of new mandates that Joel will build upon.
The firm's thriving retailisation practice is led by Funds partner Will Normand, with support from Emily Clark, Head of Asset Management, Phil Bartram and Michael Raymond, partners in the Financial Services & Markets department, Jonathan Gilmour, Head of Derivatives & Structured Products, and Elena Rowlands, partner in the Tax department.
Joel's arrival follows the recent hire of Tosin Adeyeri, who joined as a Funds partner in October last year, bolstering the firm's expertise in both primary fundraising and secondaries transactions. The award-winning and growing Travers Smith Asset Management practice, with the arrival of Joel, will be made up of over 20 partners across the firm, advising alternative asset manager clients on all aspects of their business, including institutional fundraising, LP led and GP secondaries, fund finance, investor side work and retailisation as well as house advice on issues such as tax structuring and ESG.
Funds partner Will Normand, commented:
“We are delighted to welcome Joel to the Funds group as a partner. Joel’s arrival will enable us to grow our market leading retailisation practice and capitalise on the many opportunities we are seeing in this market, the hottest area in the alternative industry at the moment, and we are at the forefront of it.”
Joel Grossmark commented:
"I am honoured to have worked closely with such an experienced and talented group of lawyers, private wealth specialists and investment professionals at Blackstone.
I am very excited to be joining Travers Smith as a partner. Travers Smith is an established and ambitious firm which still remains a true and collaborative partnership and having been a client of Travers Smith for many years, I have first hand experience of the quality of advice and client experience that it delivers. Will has done a fantastic job at setting up the firm’s market leading retailisation practice, and I am looking forward to working with him to capture the increasing demand for these products."
Marisa Beeney, General Counsel of Blackstone Credit and Insurance, added:
“We wish Joel every success in his new role and we look forward to continuing to work with him. We would like to thank Joel for his many contributions over the last few years, particularly with respect to our retail private credit platform in Europe.”