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Unlocking UK capital, an alternative view

30 May 2024

Marc van Rijckevorsel, Head of Sales for Corporate Solutions (North America), Alyson Yule, Managing Director of Financial Solutions, and Zachary Milloy, Partner at Paul Hastings Investment Funds & Private Capital

The regulatory framework in the European Union (“EU”) governing the marketing of Alternative Investment Funds (“AIF”) is the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (“AIFMD”).

The AIFMD allows EU member states the ability to permit the marketing of non-EU funds in their territory, subject to the fund and its manager complying with a subset of AIFMD’s requirements set out in Art. 42 of the AIFMD.

The rules implemented by each EU member state under Art. 42 of the AIFMD are known as National Private Placement Regimes (“NPPRs”), and these rules allow US sponsors to register US funds (and other non-EU funds e.g., Cayman or Canadian funds) for marketing in most EU member states.

In this article, we will provide an overview of the NPPR process in the United Kingdom (“UK”).

Brexit

When the AIFMD came into force in 2014, the Directive covered a total of 31 countries (28 member states of the EU, plus 3 additional EEA countries).  Each country was required to adopt the AIFMD into their legislation.

The UK was one of those 28 EU countries at the time, and it adopted the AIFMD into its legislation in 2014.  Following Brexit, the AIFMD was transposed into domestic law in the UK. As a result, the current UK AIFMD rules align with the EU AIFMD rules, and therefore the same concepts apply.

NPPR Process in the UK

In the UK, if a US (or other non-UK) manager) wishes to market their US (or perhaps Cayman or other domiciled) fund to UK investors, the UK AIFMD marketing registration requirements are straight-forward:

  • A registration or notification process with the FCA; and
  • Ongoing AIFMD reporting (known as Annex IV reporting) with the FCA throughout the life of the fund.

It is not always necessary to bear the additional cost and regulatory burden associated with creating a new UK fund structure to raise capital in the UK.

How can we help?

Our team is currently working with Paul Hastings to assist with marketing inquiries and registration requirements into the EU and the UK.

Once an NPPR registration is complete, the Apex Group can assist with the ongoing regulatory reporting requirements, known as Annex IV reporting.

For further information, get in touch with our AIFMD reporting team.

 

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