Jersey-based Dominion Corporate Group is increasing its regulated funds service capabilities with the formation of a new Luxembourg-based management company.
Through the new entity, DCG Management Company, the group will be able to service new markets in a changing European environment, according to Christopher Bennett (pictured), managing director of Dominion Real Estate.
The introduction of the EU Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, which will take effect from mid-2013, will bring many more alternative funds into the regulatory net, Bennett notes.
“This will drive demand for well-tested solutions offering a strong framework of governance and oversight, which DCG Management Company has been established to provide,” he says.
Bennett points to a need under the forthcoming legislation for fund managers to reassess their organisation, especially in areas such as delegation of functions and risk management.
He says: “Managers will need either to beef up their in-house capabilities to comply, for instance, with the requirement for an independent risk management function, or appoint a management company that will take on the responsibility of overseeing delegated functions such as fund administration and asset management and performing the risk management function.”
The third-party management company service is already a proven concept within the UCITS world and is offered by a small number of players in Luxembourg, but according to Bennett DCG’s experience of alternative asset classes brings something new to the jurisdiction.
“It’s part of providing a package for our clients whether they wish to be onshore or offshore, and that depends on whether investment is coming from within or outside the EU,” he says.
DCG opened its Luxembourg office in 2010. Daniela Klasén-Martin, managing director of Dominion Corporate Group and of DCG Management Company, says the launch of the new business represents an important step in the development of the group.
She says: “We have the ambition to become a leading provider of governance and substance, combining group expertise in the alternative asset classes of real estate, private equity and mezzanine debt with considerable experience of the local fund management industry and regulated structures.”
Dominion provides management and administration with a focus on corporate governance for corporate and institutional clients. Founded in Jersey in 1998, the group’s business units provide services to the corporate, real estate, funds and capital markets sectors. Some 60 staff administer structures holding assets exceeding EUR10bn.
