Tag: Goodwin Procter

Strategies for Responding to Liquidity Needs of Investors in Real Estate Funds

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Goodwin Procter put together a great piece on Strategies for Responding to Liquidity Needs of Investors in Real Estate Funds.

As a result of the current economic downturn and global economic credit crisis, some investors find themselves over-allocated to investments in private real estate funds because their private real estate investments have not been written down in value to the same degree as their public investments (the so-called “denominator effect”). In addition, many large pension plans, foundations and endowments have suffered well-publicized losses in the public equity markets.

These pressures facing such investors are compounded by the fact that the virtual shutdown of the credit markets has dramatically reduced the volume of real estate transactions in the marketplace, which in turn has reduced the amount of distributions that real estate funds are able to make to their investors. Despite these liquidity constraints on investors, the current reduction in cash flows and sale proceeds means that many real estate funds may encounter an even greater than expected need to call capital from investors in the near term in order to fund operating costs and debt service, and to complete development or capital improvement projects.

New Massachusetts Regulations to Mandate Comprehensive Information Security Requirements

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Goodwin Procter LLP published a summary of the New Massachusetts Regulations to Mandate Comprehensive Information Security Requirements.

The regulations have broad coverage, applying to all entities that own, license, store or maintain personal information about residents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, regardless of whether or not the entity has operations in the Commonwealth. Federally regulated financial and other entities are not exempt from the Massachusetts regulations, raising the question of whether entities that are in compliance with Gramm-Leach-Bliley, HIPAA and/or SEC information security requirements will be considered to meet the new Massachusetts requirements. Significantly, “personal information” has a somewhat limited scope, and is defined as a resident’s first and last name or first initial and last name in combination with a Social Security number, driver’s license number or financial account number. The regulations impose two principal requirements: (i) the duty to develop, implement and maintain a very comprehensive written information security program that meets very specific requirements; and (ii) the obligation to meet specific computer information security requirements.