Hermann Beythan
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Company
Linklaters LLP Luxembourg
Position
Partner
An international outlook on Luxembourg’s fund industry
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Throughout his life and career Hermann Beythan, has embraced an international outlook, including studies in the US and Japan – ideal grounding for a leading role in the grand duchy’s increasingly global fund industry.
Enduring ties
Hermann Beythan has enjoyed what seems in retrospect a perfect grounding for a career in Luxembourg’s investment fund industry. A partner of the Investment Funds Practice Group since 1998, he advises clients on facets of the sector including cross-border financial services regulation, international private placements, structuring of complex alternative funds and outsourcing of investment management functions. A constant thread running through Hermann’s life and career is an international outlook, starting in his teens when, having been born and brought up in Germany, he spent four months at a high school in the US. Soon after, he began what has proved an enduring tie with the grand duchy. “I spent my first year of legal studies in what was then the Centre Universitaire in Luxembourg,” he says, “and would subsequently spend the formative years of my professional career here.”
The wood and the trees
Hermann’s global perspective was to receive a further boost over the course of a subsequent year studying in Tokyo, after which he undertook parallel studies in Germany and France for a French and German law degree. When he began his career in the grand duchy, the country’s cross-border investment fund industry was gaining momentum after the creation of the EU single market and the adoption of the first UCITS Directive. “I have now spent more than 25 years as a lawyer in the investment fund space,” he says, “and I have been involved in the evolution of Luxembourg from a jurisdiction essentially focused on UCITS into a hub for alternative funds as well.” Hermann believes that the fact his practice has taken in other aspects of investment funds as well as regulatory matters has helped him to build a holistic view of the industry. “It’s important not to lose sight of the wood by concentrating on individual trees,” he says.
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Active contribution
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One of the aspects of the grand duchy that has always appealed to Hermann is its outward-looking character. “Luxembourg caters to my international outlook, and I much appreciate being a partner in an international law firm, which gives me the opportunity to examine how things are done elsewhere, from investors to financial sector players,” he says. “By the nature of the business, practically all my activity involves cross-border work.” However, he is an active member of the country’s professional community, with various roles within ALFI as well as a member of the depositary committee of regulator CSSF. “It’s important not only to receive but to contribute,” he says. “By helping to market the jurisdiction jointly and sharing my knowledge and experience to assist in its further development is a way to give back to this country, which has provided me and my family with every opportunity to thrive. I very much regard Luxembourg as part of me and I aim to be part of it too.”
Facts & Figures
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Birthday: 9 March 1963
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Place of birth: Mannheim/Germany
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Nationality: Luxembourg
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Number of children: 1 girl
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Languages: German, French and English
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Hobbies: cycling, art exhibitions
My favourite
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Cities: London, New York, Paris
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Restaurants: Royal Bengal Luxembourg
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Places: Black Forest
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Book: Woyzeck de Georg Büchner
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Music: Beatles, Rolling Stones, Thelonious Monk
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Artists: Giacometti, Calder, Kurt Schwitters
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