Alexandrine Armstrong-Cerfontaine

Alexandrine Armstrong-Cerfontaine is a partner in Goodwin’s Private Equity group and heads Goodwin’s Luxembourg practice. Her practice focuses on international fund formation and other fundraising SPVs, with particular expertise in private equity funds, debt funds, and carried interest/co-investment arrangements and SPACs. She also advises fund-of-funds and secondary funds on all aspects of their activities, including fundraising, separate managed account mandates, fund investment, and secondary transactions.

Alexandrine has worked with leading organisations including Pantheon, ICG / ICG-Longbow, Rothschild Group, Denham Capital, G Squared, Kharis Capital and Cordet Capital.

Prior to joining Goodwin in 2017, Alexandrine was founder and head of the Luxembourg Practice for King & Wood Mallesons (formerly SJ Berwin).

Alexandrine is fluent in French and English.

Alexandrine's recent representations include:

• Frazier Healthcare Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners, acting through their portfolio company CSafe Global, an international manufacturer and provider of cold chain equipment and thermal shipping services, on the acquisition of Softbox Systems. Softbox is an international provider of temperature control packaging to the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Notably, Softbox supplies Pfizer with the ultra-low temperature controlled parcel shipper required in the distribution of its COVID-19 vaccines
• TA Associates on its significant minority investment in Apex Group Ltd, a global financial services provider to asset managers, financial institutions, family offices and corporates
• Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) on the structuring and fundraising of its latest fund, Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 6 (MEIF6). MEIF6 closed at its hard cap of €6 billion – exceeding its target of €5 billion
• Glennmont Partners on the successful closing of its Fund III, which has raised €850 million to invest in clean energy infrastructure projects in Europe
• Rothschild & Co in connection with the final closing of Five Arrows Principal Investments III, its third European corporate private equity vehicle. FAPI III was oversubscribed and reached a hard cap with total capital commitments of €1.25 billion
• Cordet on a direct lending fund, Cordet Direct Lending Fund II with a target fund size of €400 million
• BauMont Real Estate Capital on its debut Pan-European real estate fund, BauMont Real Estate One SCSp, raising €337 million
• Slate Asset Management on the structuring and fundraising of its first European real estate fund, Slate European Real Estate Fund III, which closed at its hard cap of €250 million
• GreenOak Real Estate on the acquisition of a logistics portfolio in Germany by way of a share deal

Alexandrine is triple qualified and is a member of the Paris Bar, Law Society (England & Wales), and Luxembourg Bar. She is also a member of LPEA’s legal expert group advising on proposed reforms and regulatory matters for alternative investment funds. She also regularly speaks at events organised by the LPEA and is a member of ALFI, the ABBL, and ALCO.

Alexandrine has been named number one on the list of Top 10 influential Investment Funds Lawyers in Luxembourg by Business Today in 2023.

Alexandrine has been recognized as a leading lawyer in Luxembourg for Investment Funds by Chambers Global and a Top Private Equity Practitioner in the UK in Euromoney’s Women in Business Law Expert Guide 2021. Client testimonials include "She's very pragmatic and user-friendly." "She is very technical and has great interpersonal skills."

The Luxembourg Funds team are recognised for excellence by Legal 500 and described by clients as being “‘business minded and understands its clients’ needs as well as the challenges their clients are facing, combined with outstanding technical skills and deep knowledge of the industry.” Client testimonials for Alex include: “The outstanding Alexandrine Armstrong-Cerfontaine is knowledgeable, reliable, approachable, and innovative”. Alexandrine is also ranked in Chambers & Partners and has been shortlisted at the 5th, 6th and 7th Annual Europe Women in Business Law Awards, Private Equity. The editorial also describes her as having “very good knowledge of fund regulation and set-up issues,” “refreshing energy” and “giving great comfort.”

Publications by Alexandrine include:

• Author, “New Law Modernizes Luxembourg Funds and Their Managers,” Hedge Fund Law Report, October 12, 2023
• Author, “Private Equity in Luxemburg: Overview,” Thomason Reuters Practical Law, June 2023
• Quoted, “Private Equity in Luxembourg: Overview,” Thomson Reuters Practical Law, January 2022
• Quoted, “‘Everything is Booming’: Why Tiny Luxembourg is Attracting a Lot of Legal Might,” Law.com, July 2021 
• Co-Author, “Sponsors to Adjust Now Marketing Plans,” PaperJam, March 2021 
• Co-Author, “Luxembourg Tax Efficiency Can Also Be Tax Compliant,” PaperJam, September 2020
• Author, “Luxembourg restructurings in the horizon,” PaperJam, June 2020
• Author, “Venture Capital Investment in Luxembourg: Market and Regulatory Overview,” Thomson Reuters Practical Law, May 2020
• Author, “Luxembourg Adapts to Temporary Substance Requirements,” The Drawdown, March 2020
• Co-Author, “Soft Landing for UK Managers Managing Luxembourg Funds and UK Firms,” JD Supra, July 2019
• Author, “Luxembourg Register of Beneficial Owners,” JD Supra, January 2019
• Co-Author, “Equity Bridge Financing: Reaping the Benefits of Liquidity and Flexibility,” Performance Magazine, Issue 27, September 2018
• Author, “Practical Law, Venture Capital Investment in Luxembourg: Market and Regulatory Overview and Private Equity in Luxembourg: Market and Regulatory Overview,”, Thomson Reuters Practical Law, 2015-2018
• Contributor, The Private Equity Review, chapters on Fundraising (Luxembourg) and Investing (Luxembourg), Law Business Research, 2015 and 2016
• GTDT Market Intelligence, Private Equity, Luxembourg, 2015 and 2016

Alexandrine is a frequent speaker at a number of conferences:

• Moderator, “Navigating Fund Operations & Formation: Regulatory and Structural Considerations,” Private Equity Europe, September 2022
• Panelist, “GP - Led Secondaries - Scaling Ever-Upward Confirmation,” Goodwin Webinar, April 2022
• Moderator, “Comparing regulatory environments: is it becoming easier for private capital to access opportunities?,” Global Summit, Emerging Markets Forum, October 18, 2021
• Moderator, “Navigating Fund Operations & Formation: Regulatory and Structural Considerations,” Private Equity Europe, September 14, 2021
• Panelist, “Annual Funds Sector Updates – Private Equity,” Goodwin Webinar, June 23, 2021
• Panelist, “The Changing Face of Infrastructure,” Mergermarket, Virtual Roundtable, March 16, 2021
• Moderator, “UK + U.S. Managers Briefing: Tomorrow's Fundraising from Europe,” December 1, 2020 
• Panelist, “Private Equity Trends: Fundraising in the EU webinar,” NES Financial, a JTC company, November 18, 2020 
• Panelist, “Planning the Future for UK Managers,” Goodwin Webinar, November 17, 2020
• Speaker, Mergermarket’s Deal Drivers: Benelux Virtual Briefing, June 2020
• Panelist, “Navigating Fund Operations & Formation including Regulatory and Structural Considerations,” Private Equity Europe Forum, September 2018
• Panelist, Iberian Private Equity Conference, Madrid, 2015 and 2016
• Panelist, LPEA Conference in Paris, September 2015
• Panelist, PE Conference in Amsterdam, 2015
• Speaker and member of the delegation for the Luxembourg governmental economic mission, China, 2015