Mourant Ozannes’ investment funds team has established the first five Jersey Private Funds (JPF) since the new regime came into effect last month.
Introduced by the Jersey Financial Services Commission, the new JPF product has been designed to rationalise and consolidate Jersey’s private fund regimes for funds offered to up to 50 professional investors.
Mourant Ozannes partner Dan Birtwistle (pictured) says: “In a buoyant fund raising market, the new JPF regime has quickly been seized on by existing and new clients alike as an effective, streamlined and proportionate product for privately offered alternative investment funds. The speed and ease with which these new launches were achieved all within 48 hours of applying to the commission – has really underlined their effectiveness and we are expecting to see increasing demand for this product from clients looking for a flexible and efficient fund structuring solution.”
Three of the new JPFs were existing Very Private Funds which elected to become subject to the new JPF regime once it came into effect. These were co-investment vehicles to facilitate investment in a USD2.5 billion portfolio of buy-out and growth funds and direct investments. Mourant Ozannes’ funds team also provided advice on the Cayman Islands law aspects of the transaction.
The remaining two were brand new JPFs. The first, a private equity fund, required a closed-ended limited partnership managed by its general partner company situated in Jersey. The second JFP was a real estate co-investment structure that also used a Jersey limited partnership managed by a Jersey management company.
Jersey Finance CEO Geoff Cook says: “Our industry is built on speed to market, expertise, and an appropriate level of regulatory oversight and, by playing to those strengths and making business easier, the new regime helps to cement our position as a market leader.
“Jersey’s funds industry has shown strong growth over the past five years, and we are confident that there will be significant uptake in the Jersey Private Fund regime by the industry, helping that growth to continue.”
