KKMP Partner Alexander Anichkin moderated and spoke at the event, discussing the taxation and some legal aspects of the tools discussed, and facilitating a substantive dialogue between lawyers and professional market participants.

The first part of the event focused on closed-end mutual funds.

Samvel Vartanyan, KKMP Associate, detailed the legal aspects of closed-end mutual funds' operations, including the regulation of its management and the competencies of its bodies, the role of trust management rules, and issues related to asset allocation.

Evgeny Garkusha, General director of Gradient Management Company, provided a comprehensive analysis of practical situations faced by unit holders and management companies. He described in detail how the management company operates and interacts with unit holders at all stages of the closed-end mutual funds' lifecycle, and provided specific examples of solutions to emerging problems.

In the second part, we turned to personal foundations – a new but rapidly developing tool.

Violetta Drondina, KKMP Associate, and Ekaterina Zharova, Head of Capital Structuring at Alfa-Capital, discussed the key challenges faced by founders when establishing foundations and transferring assets, as well as the specifics of managing the foundation after the founder’s death. Particular attention was paid to the risks of usurpation of control by one of the foundation’s bodies and potential protection mechanisms – from transparent appointment of governing bodies to the role of the management company as an institutional sole executive body.

At the conclusion of the seminar, the speakers conducted a comparative analysis of closed-end mutual funds and personal foundations, discussing key differences between the tools, including aspects of taxation, management, and liability, and answered questions from the audience.

We thank all participants for their interest, tremendous engagement, and lively discussion.