Ed Gander

ED GANDER is Head of Sidley’s London Private Funds group. He has over 25 years of fundraising experience and, notably among legal funds practitioners, he was a founder and managing partner of the private equity business, ViaNova Capital, between 2003 and 2006. His experience includes raising private equity, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and secondaries funds. He advises a wide range of global managers across strategies. Prior to joining Sidley in 2025, Ed served as the head of the London Private Funds group at another international law firm, a position he held since 2011.

“To sum up what Gander gives you throughout a fundraising—it’s leadership, insight, integrity and commitment. I trust Ed to go into a room on my behalf and get the job done.”
Sir Bob Geldof KBE, Chairman of 8 Miles Private Equity

Ed is consistently recognized as a leading private funds lawyer by industry publications, including:

• Chambers UK 2026 — Ranked for Investment Funds: Private Equity, where clients describe him as “deeply knowledgeable and experienced”. He is also commended for providing “excellent strategic and tactical advice on delicate matters.”
• Chambers UK 2025 and Chambers Europe 2025 — Ranked for Investment Funds: Private Equity, where one source says that “Ed is incredibly responsive and available as partner. I trust him. I think he’s an exceptional lawyer.” He is also praised for having “an excellent mix of commercial acumen and experience” and for being “refreshingly direct and of high integrity.”
• Legal 500 UK 2026 and 2025 — Recognized in the “Hall of Fame” for Private Funds. In the 2025 edition Ed is described as “a ‘very impressive funds lawyer’ with over 25 years of fundraising experience and a stellar market reputation.”
• Financial News — Named in the “Rising Stars Hall of Fame 2016.”

Ed is a trustee of the UK Infrastructure Industry Association, a charity which raises funds for worthy causes connected to the UK infrastructure industry.

Ed’s representative matters include advising:

• Actis on its first and second Long Life Infrastructure Funds, that raised aggregate commitments of approx. $3 billion.*
• Apollo-managed funds in their acquisition of a majority stake in Kelvion, a leading global provider of energy-efficient heat exchange and cooling solutions, from funds advised by Triton Partners.
• Graphite Capital Partners on their fundraisings, GCP VIII and GCP IX that raised aggregate commitments of approx. £1 billion.*
• Hamburg Commercial Bank on the establishment of its multi-manager credit platform and its deployment through SMAs with multiple leading private credit managers.*
• RoundShield Partners, a leading European credit investment manager, in connection with a strategic transaction pursuant to which Harrison Street Asset Management, the investment management division of Colliers, acquired a majority stake in RoundShield.
• Stanley Capital on the establishment of its $500m mid-market private equity platform.*
• Temporis Capital on the final closing of Temporis Impact Strategy V Fund.
• Wafra Inc. on its minority investment in Ardian.

*The above matters were handled prior to joining Sidley.