Alternative Investment Funds: BDCs, Interval Funds, and Tender Offer Funds

This program will cover the three non-traded closed-end fund structures driving the growth of alternative investments: interval funds, tender offer funds, and business development companies (BDCs). The course will review how each vehicle evolved under the Investment Company Act of 1940 to deliver private credit, real assets, and other alternative investments to broader investor audiences, and compares their key trade-offs in liquidity mechanics, leverage, complexity, and distribution.

This program will benefit attorneys advising fund sponsors, asset managers, and financial intermediaries, as well as in-house counsel evaluating structural options for new alternative-investment products.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify the three non-traded closed-end fund structures: interval funds, tender offer funds, and BDCs, and their defining features under the Investment Company Act of 1940

2. Discuss the regulatory frameworks governing each structure, including Rule 23c-3 for interval funds, Rule 13e-4 for tender offer funds, and Sections 54-65 of the 1940 Act for BDCs

3. Evaluate the trade-offs between structures on liquidity mechanics, leverage limits, investor eligibility, and operational complexity

4. Assess how to match a fund's structure to its underlying strategy, target investor base, and distribution channel

5. Advise fund sponsors and asset managers on selecting the appropriate wrapper for a new alternative-investment product, using a decision-tree approach that accounts for asset liquidity, redemption discretion, and investor qualification requirements