Pinsent Masons Advises Baillie Gifford Europe on Complex Licensing Application

06 May 2022 | 10:44 am | 1 min. read

Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has advised Baillie Gifford Investment Management (Europe) Limited on its recent licensing application, which was authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland in April 2022.

The application involved changing Baillie Gifford Europe from a MiFID authorised business, into a MegaManco, a dual authorised UCITS Management Company and AIFM with MiFID top-up permissions. This includes, individual portfolio management, receipt and transmissions of orders and investment advice permissions.

The new entity will be used to manage Baillie Gifford UCITS funds range, Alternative Investment Funds and segregated mandate business, with assets under management in the region of circa €20 billion.

The Pinsent Masons team advising Baillie Gifford Europe was led by head of asset management and investment funds in Ireland Gayle Bowen, and associate Ruth Hennessy.

Commenting on the granting of this licence, Gayle Bowen said:

"We have been working on this project with Baillie Gifford Europe for several months and are delighted to see it come to a successful conclusion. Despite its complexity, we not only achieved their ambitious deadline, we were cleared of comment two weeks early.Having this new permission allows Baillie Gifford Europe to streamline their various business lines into one capitalised structure, rather than have multiple regulated entities with different capital and reporting obligations, and opens up new business opportunities for them.

Our thanks to the Baillie Gifford Europe team, in particular Lindsay Gold (CEO), Ross Carlin (COO) and Colin Crawford (Manager) who worked hard in partnership with us on the application process.”

The project, which involved a complex licence-arrangement underpinned by Baillie Gifford’s extensive EU-wide distribution channels, saw the team at Pinsent Masons collaborate closely with the Central Bank of Ireland on issues relating to passporting applications, funds supervision and MiFID.

Latest press releases

Show me all press releases

Pinsent Masons appoints employment partner in Aberdeen

Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has hired Gillian Harrington to join the firm’s Aberdeen office as employment partner from 6 May.

Pinsent Masons bolsters UK corporate practice with hire of expert healthcare and higher education partner

Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has hired corporate partner, Rachel Soundy, to join the firm’s Birmingham office.

Pinsent Masons advises Balbec Capital on its first European public securitisation

Multinational law firm, Pinsent Masons LLP, has advised IGCF VI Euro, L.P. a sub-fund of Balbec Capital LP, a global alternative investment manager headquartered in the United States on its first European public securitisation in relation to the issuance of notes totalling EUR 392 million backed by a portfolio of reperforming Spanish mortgage loans, arranged by Goldman Sachs.

People who viewed this press release also viewed

Show me all press releases

Pinsent Masons advises Balbec Capital on its first European public securitisation

Multinational law firm, Pinsent Masons LLP, has advised IGCF VI Euro, L.P. a sub-fund of Balbec Capital LP, a global alternative investment manager headquartered in the United States on its first European public securitisation in relation to the issuance of notes totalling EUR 392 million backed by a portfolio of reperforming Spanish mortgage loans, arranged by Goldman Sachs.

Pinsent Masons expands pensions team with partner hire

Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has appointed pensions partner Anna Taylor, to join the firm’s Finance and Projects team in London.

Pinsent Masons promotes 24 to global partnership

Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has today announced its latest round of partner promotions, with 24 set to join its global partnership on 1 May.

For all media enquiries, including arranging an interview with one of our spokespeople, please contact the press office on

+44 (0)20 7418 8199 or 

Location contacts

We are processing your request. \n Thank you for your patience. An error occurred. This could be due to inactivity on the page - please try again.