Kate Downey

Kate advises European and global fund sponsors and financial institutions across a broad range of asset classes, including in private equity, credit and direct lending, infrastructure, energy and venture/growth. She also has extensive experience working on secondary and spin-out transactions, GP-led restructurings and other transactions in the asset management space.

Kate also co-chairs the European Committee of Women in Fund Finance, a group focused on recognition and promotion of women leaders within the alternative investment fund finance industry.

Fried Frank is committed to helping women attorneys at Fried Frank achieve their greatest potential with respect to their professional lives, while maintaining a balance with their personal lives and addressing the challenges they may encounter along the way. The Firm formed the Women’s Forum Resource Group, which serves to foster and develop the talents and abilities of female attorneys across the Firm and to ensure that those talents are best utilized to maintain Fried Frank's excellence in service to our clients and our communities. 

The Forum promotes the professional goals of women attorneys and encourages firmwide sensitivity to issues that uniquely impact women in the workplace. The Forum presents regular programming to the Firm and to the broader community. Programs include:

• Discussion groups facilitated by partners designed to foster open communication between women attorneys and with Firm leadership.
• Professional development training for women attorneys, such as seminars on networking and business development skills.
• Hosting small group dinners, including for our women summer associates.
• Community-building receptions where our partners, counsel and senior associates share their personal and professional stories.

For more details, please see: Fried Frank Women’s Forum Resource Group.

• Advised BlueBay Asset Management in relation to the separation of its private debt business, which has been formally relaunched as Arcmont Asset Management, which now manages over €13b of institutional assets across Europe. 
• Prior to Arcmont’s spinout, Kate advised BlueBay Asset Management on the raising of its c.EUR6b third flagship direct lending fund (Direct Lending Fund III) and c.€3b Senior Loan Fund. 
• Advised BlackRock on the raising of the EUR1.2b+ Blackrock Europe Property Fund V, a fund investing primarily in real estate assets in Europe.
• Advised iCON Infrastructure on the raising of its latest US$1.9b flagship fund, iCON Infrastructure Partners V, which focuses on investments in mid-sized infrastructure businesses located in Europe and North America. 

• Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, The College of Law, 2000
• Postgraduate Diploma in Law, The College of Law, 1999
• BA, Merton College, University of Oxford, 1998