Dr Agnes Molnar

Partner

Legal

Cayman

+1 345 938 7230 agnes.molnar@collascrill.com LinkedIn vCard

Agnes is a dual‑qualified England and Wales and Cayman Islands lawyer with more than 20 years of experience advising global sponsors, asset managers, banks and alternative lenders across the full spectrum of fund finance, private credit and structured finance.

Experience

Agnes advises on the financing of private capital, acting for both sponsors and lenders across all aspects of fund liquidity. Her work includes subscription, NAV and hybrid facilities, asset-based finance, GP support and co-investment facilities, preferred equity at fund and GP level, collateralised fund obligations (CFOs), management fee and capital call securitisations, and the financing of secondaries and continuation vehicles.

She also advises on private credit and private structured credit, including loan-on-loan portfolio financings and bespoke structures where the documentation requires original drafting rather than precedent. Her practice extends to Shari'ah-compliant financing and investment structures.

Alongside the financing work, Agnes structures and establishes the Cayman Islands vehicles that sit beneath it, including exempted limited partnerships, exempted companies, segregated portfolio companies, rated note feeders, co-investment vehicles and special purpose vehicles. That combination means she is often with a client from formation through financing and into bespoke liquidity solutions. She works closely with the firm’s corporate, funds and regulatory teams to provide an integrated service to private capital clients.

Her clients include fund sponsors and asset managers, banks, private credit and alternative lenders, and onshore law firms. Her geographical focus is the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East, with Cayman Islands structuring at the centre of that work.

Background

Agnes has been in practice for more than 20 years, seven of them as a partner in the Cayman Islands. Before moving offshore, she spent 15 years in London, Vienna and Budapest at leading international law firms and in-house at a global financial institution, working across fund finance, structured finance, securitisation and distressed debt.

Awards

Agnes is ranked in Chambers for banking and finance and was named a Legal 500 Rising Star for fund finance. She regularly contributes chapters on fund finance and private credit to Global Legal Insights. She has spoken before the American Bar Association’s Fund Finance Sub-Committee on capital call securitisation.

Memberships

• International Fellow of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers
• American Bar Association, Fund Finance Sub-Committee
• Fund Finance Association
• Women in Fund Finance
• Alternative Investment Management Association
• Alternative Credit Council
• Cayman Islands Law Society

Expertise

The importance of managing risk across all types of banking and financial transactions has never been more apparent. International and multi-jurisdictional activity, particularly in new and emerging markets, is driving creativity in structuring and transactions which requires a team of lawyers who know how to get the optimal results from each deal.

When customers or clients do not pay on time, we provide timely and effective advice on recovering debts and enforcing judgments. We help businesses, service providers, lenders and borrowers – including banks, funds, directors, and insolvency practitioners – recover commercial debt swiftly and strategically.

Our services cover court proceedings, arrets, saisies, statutory demands, insolvency proceedings, désastre, realisation, dégrèvement, and enforcement of security interests. We conduct thorough security reviews and advise on pre-emptive measures, ensuring prompt, decisive action with discretion to minimise reputational risk.

Demand continues to rise for legal professionals with a strong knowledge and understanding of Shariah law concepts continues, a reflection of the growth in Islamic finance products and services for institutions and private clients.

We can advise in relation to the financing of investment funds in Guernsey, Jersey, BVI and Cayman, advising both borrowers and lenders. Fund financing covers a range of financing possibilities including mezzanine financing or acquisition finance, but most commonly involves capital call or subscription facilities. It is a specialist area that requires an understanding of fund structuring, the risks involved in lending to funds and specific security requirements.

Underlying relationships between investors, borrowers and lenders are key to the success of the industry. We work with lenders and borrowers to maintain these relationships at every stage of the process, with our commercial, efficient and pragmatic approach to managing transactions.

Offshore vehicles are used for a huge range of purposes either standing alone or as part of large multi-jurisdictional structures.

Our highly commercial team specialises in advising clients on the most effective uses of such vehicles and their ongoing operation, including normal and cellular companies as well as foundations, unit trusts, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, segregated portfolio and restricted purpose companies.

We are able to advise what jurisdiction among the 'Big Four' that we advise on will best suit our client's needs and regularly advise on solvent restructuring by way of merger, consolidation, continuation or balance sheet optimisation as well as court based corporate procedures such as schemes and plans of arrangement.

With our mix of non-contentious and litigation restructuring specialists, Collas Crill offers the unique advantage of having being able to provide a team to seamlessly take a transaction from start to finish.

There's little doubt that for every challenge in the current market, an opportunity emerges. Having the right team to exploit these opportunities gives you a definite advantage. At Collas Crill we work with our clients to take advantage of opportunities at all stages in the investment lifecycle.

In a world of rising expectations, we are increasingly instructed by sovereign wealth funds, ultra-high net-worth individuals and funds of funds to review potential fund investments and negotiate side-letters or co-invest arrangements. We offer our clients a fast, efficient service with minimum fuss. This aspect of our practice gives us unparalleled insight of what is and isn't the 'market standard'; something all our clients benefit from.

Our uniquely diverse practice regularly assists with the establishment of both open and closed-ended fund structures. In addition to traditional Channel Island private equity and real estate structures and Caribbean hedge funds, we have advised on a number of alternative and esoteric classes. We work alongside our clients to understand their investment thesis and provide bespoke drafting to build the fund they want as opposed to generic template structures and documentation.

We advise clients at every step of the process, including preparing offer documents, investor negotiations, the preparation of agreements, and in the closing of transactions.

Our investment practice is not limited to regulated investment funds. With private capital deployment a global trend we also advise clients on a range of unregulated and private structures. These include structures allowing new promoters to build a track record or investment clubs to access particular investments without incurring the time or financial cost of entering the regulatory regime.

In addition, we frequently work with our award winning private client team to provide investment fund like solutions for family offices or high-net-worth individuals. Our team's experience in this often overlooked area of the investment sector can help our clients manage regulation and plan their structures for future growth without unnecessary limitations.

In today's economic climate lawyers need to be more innovative and more efficient in navigating the increasing complexity of the regulatory environment.