Experienced Investor Fund - Gibraltar’s....

This is the second of six Gibraltar focussed articles by Rolf Majcen, Managing Director, FTC Capital GmbH, Austria, www.ftc.at (first article: Source).

Experienced Investor Funds (EIFs) are Gibraltar’s premier vehicle for alternative investments. Legal basis are the Financial Services (Experienced Investor Funds) Regulations 2005. The strength of the EIF-regime is that it is internationally competitive while maintaining the level of regulation. It offers a fast-track procedure that enables funds to be swiftly and easily set up which brings Gibraltar into line with jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands or the BVI.

Definition of an “experienced investor”
EIFs are open to investors who are considered to be “experienced”; for instance, a person meets the requirement that is a professional asset manager or a person with net assets in excess of Euro 1 Mio. The term “experienced investor” is also fulfilled if a participant invests a minimum of Euro 100.000, which makes it easier to subscribe shares of an EIF.

Flexibility
There are no investment or borrowing restrictions imposed on an EIF, nor is there any limitation on the number of investors such a fund may have. There is no obligation for an EIF to publish the NAV and it does not have to meet any requirements in respect of minimum net assets. There is no need to have an authorised “fund-promoter”.

EIFs are primarily established as open-ended or closed-ended investment companies; Unit Trusts, partnerships or funds in contractual form as well as Protected Cell Companies (PCC) are also possible. The private company has got an interesting special feature, even when compared to other international centres, because it does not limit the number of its members (50 according to Gibraltarian law) for a company that is an EIF and also allows the public distribution of shares to a certain degree.

EIFs are capable of being established in Gibraltar within a matter of days
The regulatory regime has placed the burden of compliance, due diligence and o......................

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Experienced Investor Fund - Gibraltar’s....