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Nigel van Zyl is a partner and co-head of the Private Funds Group at Proskauer.
Nigel specializes in advising asset managers, institutional investors and investment advisors across the full spectrum of investment fund matters.
Praised for his keen business sense and practical approach, Nigel advises leading international fund managers on all aspects of their fund business, including the formation, raising, maintenance and ongoing operation and compliance of their investment funds. He also advises on internal governance, compliance and organization, carried interest and co-investment arrangements, spinouts, re-organizations and restructurings.
Nigel represents institutional investors, including fund of funds, sovereign wealth funds, and global asset managers, with respect to their investments into private equity and other alternative asset funds.
Nigel also advises buyers and sellers of secondary fund interests and the structures used for these transactions, including synthetic secondary and co-investment structures.
Nigel is recognised in both Chambers and Legal 500 and has been recognised as a market leading private equity funds lawyer by IFLR 1000.
Education
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University of Natal, South Africa, Higher Diploma in Tax
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University of Natal, South Africa, LL.B.
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University of Natal, South Africa, B.Soc.Sci., (law and politics)
Admissions & Qualifications
- Admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales
- South Africa
Memberships
Law Society of England and Wales, Member
Awards & Recognition
Financial News Most Influential Lawyers 2022-2023
IFLR 1000 United Kingdom: Private Equity Funds: Market Leader 2021-2022
IFLR 1000 United Kingdom: Private Equity Funds: Highly Regarded 2020
Chambers UK: Investment Funds: Private Equity 2010-2022, 2024-2025
Chambers Europe: UK, Investment Funds: Private Equity 2010-2023
The Legal 500 United Kingdom: Investment Funds: Private Funds, Leading Individual 2011-2019, 2023
The Legal 500 United Kingdom: Investment Fund Formation and Management: Fund Finance 2024-2025
The Legal 500 United Kingdom: Hall of Fame 2020-2025
The Legal 500 Asia Pacific China: Investment Funds: Foreign Firms 2024
Who’s Who Legal Thought Leaders: Private Funds 2018-2019
Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom 2009-2022
Who’s Who Legal 2011-2016
The Lawyer: UK’s Hot 100 Lawyers
London Super Lawyers 2014-2015
Law Business Research’s Who’s Who Legal: Private Funds 2024
Best Lawyers: United Kingdom: Private Equity Law, 2025
Matters
Representative Matters
- Hg in all of its private equity fund formations, including its most recent $11 billion+ triple fund raise, simultaneously through fundraising vehicles Saturn 2, Genesis 9 and Mercury 3
- G Square Capital III, a mid-market healthcare fund (€500 million)
- Gilde Buy-Out Partners VI, a mid-market buyout fund making investments in the Benelux and DACH regions (€1.35 billion)
- EMK Capital Partners II, a mid-market buyout fund (€1.5 billion)
- Tenzing Private Equity II, a UK growth fund (£400 million)
- Valedo Partners III, a SEK2 billion Nordic private equity fund
- Priveq Investment VI, a SEK2.5 billion Nordic mid-market buyout fund
- One Peak Growth II SCSp, a €443 million growth equity fund
- Avedon IV, a private equity fund targeting €500 million
- Bencis Buyout Fund VI, a €575 million buyout fund