Acting on instruction from a leading European institutional fund manager, Carey Olsen has established an unregulated eligible investor fund in Jersey, the first vehicle of its kind to be c
Acting on instruction from a leading European institutional fund manager, Carey Olsen has established an unregulated eligible investor fund in Jersey, the first vehicle of its kind to be created since two new categories of unregulated fund were introduced in February.
The fund vehicle, a Jersey public company, has an umbrella fund structure that allows the creation of multiple managed investment portfolios, or sub-funds, with multiple classes of shares in respect of each sub-fund. The transaction was led in Jersey by Carey Olsen funds partner Eve Kosofsky and senior associate Daniel O’Connor.
‘The recent introduction of the unregulated funds regime completes Jersey’s offering of investment funds and enhances the carefully targeted changes in its regulatory regime,’ Kosofsky says. ‘The developments are an important step in making the island the jurisdiction of choice in the European alternative funds sector.’
According to the industry promotional body Jersey Finance, the new regime provides ‘certainty, flexibility and speed’ in establishing new funds and offers promoters the assurance that they will have the ability to tailor funds to their particular commercial and tax requirements.
‘Once the fund is established, which can take as little as two hours, no further regulatory approval is required under Jersey’s funds legislation,’ Kosofsky adds. ‘In an industry where speed in bringing the product to market is of the essence, this is a particular advantage.’
Unregulated funds offer a choice of fund vehicle between a company, unit trust or limited partnership. There is no audit requirement, except for funds structured as public companies in Jersey, no investment or borrowing restrictions, and no need to use local service providers.
Unregulated eligible investor funds are for open-ended or closed-ended funds restricted to sophisticated investors, a definition that includes investors committing at least USD1m, while unregulated exchange-traded funds are for closed-ended funds listed on an approved stock exchange, such as London’s AIM, Nasdaq, Euronext and the Channel Islands Stock Exchange.
