Managers
By Andrew Frost (pictured), Lawson Conner, & Justin Partington, IQ-EQ – Enhanced due diligence, including Know Your Customer (KYC), when completing complex acquisitions of businesses or assets is not only a basic expectation under current Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations, but also makes commercial sense for all parties involved.
Minimising your exposure to financial risk through KYC
Performing KYC checks when completing acquisitions is crucial both from a regulatory standpoint, to avoid sanctions, fines or reputational damage and from a risk standpoint to avoid financial losses. Recent high-profile cases, such as the merger between JP Morgan Chase and Washington Mutual where subsequent regulatory issues came
Luxembourg is seeing a growing number of US managers interested in setting up private equity structures to access European investments and clients. Richard van ‘t Hof, head of Trident Trust’s operations in Luxembourg talks about the opportunities and challenges managers face when crossing the Atlantic.
What is the goal for Trident Trust’s business in Luxembourg?
Our primary goal is to keep our clients satisfied! But we also have plans to significantly grow our fund services business in Luxembourg. We have steadily grown our two main services, corporate administration and fund administration, since we opened in Luxembourg in 2009, but we
As price competition increases in the provision of third party management company services in Luxembourg, the focus on quality and deep regulatory expertise is becoming even more important.
“It’s a competitive landscape with many new management companies starting up,” explains Daniela Klasén-Martin (pictured), Group Head of Management Company Services, Managing Director Luxembourg at Crestbridge a provider of global administration, management & corporate governance solutions.
“Quality is important because there is a lot of cost pressure. There are new players in the third party management company market who are putting prices down. This can be quite dangerous because there is a
The private equity, private debt and real estate fund markets are growing strongly across the globe. Record amounts of assets are flowing into these asset classes as investors look to allocate to strategies which offer attractive returns in a global low interest rate environment.
Investors are able to avail of funds structured in a number of jurisdictions – in Europe and in North America or the Caribbean. Increasingly, though, European investors are showing a preference to invest in European structures. Funds continue to be established in the traditional jurisdictions of the Channel Islands and onshore UK, but increasingly funds are
Fund administrators are moving up the chain into middle office and portfolio management functions as they broaden their services to offer more holistic support to their asset management clients. The success of this is currently reliant on a strong human relationship between administrators and fund managers. However, as the alternatives industry moves to more standardisation, technology will play a greater role in helping fund administrators provide a superior service to their fund management clients.
“Historically, the fund administration business was very much about the back office. In the past few years, however, administrators have taken steps up the chain into
Q&A with Mark Shaw, Partner, Wildgen Investment Fund…
How would you assess the regulatory environment in Luxembourg from a PE funds perspective?
Luxembourg’s PE fund regulatory environment is framed by the fact that PE funds fall within the EU’s various directives and regulations, chief among which is the regime under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (“AIFMD”).
Within that wider framework, there are then degrees of regulation available to promoters of PE funds, from unregulated sub-threshold AIFs with a registered AIFM, reserved alternative investment funds (RAIFs) with an authorised and regulated AIFM, through to specialised investment funds (SIFs) or investment
As the private capital markets develop further and regulation continues to increase, asset servicers shoulder growing reporting and supervisory burdens on behalf of their clients. As a result, an automated technology solution to manage the sheer volume of data needed to invest in this area can provide operational efficiency and also allow for more cost effective investment by limited partners (LPs).
“The demand for deep and more granular data is much higher today than it was 10 years ago,” says Dr Daniel Schmidt, CEO, CEPRES. “In the past it was possible to invest in private capital markets by just looking
No matter who you talk to, global private equity has enjoyed a period of enormous growth in the last few years and, in Luxembourg, this has proven to be a key factor as it has looked to drive interest, globally, in regulated private equity funds.
As the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) reported at the end of 2018, although the PE fund landscape is still dominated by funds of EUR100 million or less in AUM, the number of large PE funds (EUR500 million and above) has increased to represent over 4 per cent of the total, with the
As institutional investors have been increasing allocations to real assets, driven by the persistent low yield environment, the appeal of private equity (PE) has inevitably been on the rise. Luxembourg has become the European epi-centre of this burgeoning industry as its reputation for quality and service precedes it.
According to consultancy Deloitte’s estimates, PE assets under management in Luxembourg have increased by 20 per cent year-on-year, benefiting from the USD436 billion in funds raised globally in 2018.
“We have seen a fairly sustained interest in launching new funds in Luxembourg from managers based around the globe,” confirms Mark Shaw, Partner
Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA), via Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 6 (MEIF6), has acquired Farnborough Airport from a consortium of private investors.
Farnborough Airport is the only dedicated business aviation airport in the United Kingdom (UK”). The airport, which handles more than 30,000 air traffic movements each year, has facilities designed to maximise travel efficiency, reliability and customer experience for passengers travelling to London and the South East. Farnborough Airport was the world’s first dedicated business aviation airport to receive carbon neutral status from Airports Council International, and its facilities and services have seen it named Europe’s best Fixed-Based
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
