Publications

As we reported in our recent briefing "AIFMD: Almost there...", at their meeting on 19 October Europe's finance ministers finally cut through the Gordian Knot that is the treatment of third country funds under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) Directive. This remained the most significant issue requiring resolution before the Directive could be finalised. The issue had also become highly politicised, with the French Finance Minister, Christine Lagarde, publicly weighing in against non-EU funds getting a passport to sell interests to investors in the EU. Meanwhile, the UK was arguing that such a passport must be made available in the context of an increasingly global industry, whilst the US Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, pursued a very public campaign claiming that failure to offer non-EU funds a passport would amount to protectionism by the EU.



In this briefing, we discuss the treatment of third country funds and outstanding questions regarding passporting and the use of national private placement arrangements before the passport is granted to non-EU funds. We also discuss the continued imposition of liability on depositaries and the disclosure requirements for private equity funds.

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