Luxembourg’s Reserved AIF (RAIF) has completely changed the Grand Duchy’s alternatives marketplace, from a fund structuring perspective. Over the last three decades it has become the de facto onshore jurisdiction for UCITS funds, but this has started to change in the last few years.  According to EFAMA, total AUM in AIFs grew by 15.1 per cent year-on-year to reach EUR673 billion at the end of 2017, while UCITS’ assets increased by 11.9 per cent over the same period.  As PwC points out in its 2018 Barometer Report, assets held by both AIF and UCITS funds in Luxembourg reached EUR4.1 trillion in December 2017; this has since risen to EUR4.27 trillion through August 2018.  One of the factors behind the growth in AIFs, and specifically RAIFs, is the ease with which they can be launched and the avoidance of dual regulation, as is the case when launching a SIF, for example.  “UCITS remain popular but we have seen a complete shift in people using RAIFs instead of SIFs and SICARs, which were the typical vehicles used by private equity and hedge fund managers,” confirms Aleksander Jakima, Conducting Officer at Circle Partners, an independent fund administrator with a strong presence in Luxembourg.  “Now they are using the AIFM’s license to proceed straight to the set-up phase with a RAIF,” continues Jakima.