Fund Office Services: Fund structuring and maintenance services
We can assist you throughout the update and approval process of your investment products.
We have a unique skillset and expertise encompassing tax, accounting and regulatory matters. This allows us to advise our clients on the best-fitted fund structure (Structuring) or the adjustment of existing structures (Maintenance).
We can assist you in rationalising your investment fund ranges in such a way as to make it more efficient through set-up, merger, master-feeder, re-domiciliation and liquidation services by:
- providing ad hoc advice or analysis;
- organising training sessions;
- giving fund restructuring/re-domiciliation advice;
- supporting you in finding the right rationalisation scheme for your fund range;
- analysing potential regulatory and tax issues;
- providing strategies for managing the merger/master-feeder process/re-domiciliation/liquidation of your funds;
- assistance in the preparation and review of all the relevant documents needed in order to approve the merger/master-feeder process/re-domiciliation/liquidation of your fund;
- getting any Luxembourg and cross-border regulatory approval (where applicable).
We take a holistic approach to providing assistance, combining all the expertise of our firm to address potential:
- Audit matters: impacts on financial statements;
- Regulatory compliance operations: investment restrictions, risk management;
- Distribution; and
- Tax issues.
Our structuring and maintenance services are embedded in our complete range of Asset Management consultancy services, which are based on the life cycle of your investment projects and structures:
- Structural and strategy engineering: We support you in defining the ideal investment vehicle, encompassing financial, tax and business aspects.
- Documentation preparation: We can assist you in the preparation or review of all the relevant documents needed in order to comply with the requirements of the "Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier" (CSSF).
- Regulatory filing: We assist with or conduct the application filing with the CSSF.
- Incorporation and distribution: We assist you with regulatory aspects regarding incorporation, launch and distribution of your fund.
- On-going support and maintenance: We assist you throughout the lifetime of your product, providing services such as the restructuring of the fund as well as keeping your product compliant with new regulatory developments.
Over the past years, offshore promoters have decided to locate their fund management activities in Luxembourg by re-domiciling their existing offshore funds to the Grand Duchy.
In practice, such a re-domiciliation can be achieved by (i) contributing the assets and investors from an existing investment fund vehicle to a Luxembourg vehicle, by (ii) merging existing funds on a cross-border basis or (iii) by transferring the registered office of an offshore fund incorporated under the legal form of a company to Luxembourg.
Even if these three major re-domiciliation options are commonly used, the transfer of the registered office route remains very popular, particularly as regards the on-shoring of non UCITS investment funds. In a nutshell, transferring the registered office of an offshore fund to Luxembourg implies that the registered office of a fund incorporated in a given country (e.g. some offshore centre) under the form of a company is transferred to Luxembourg (the fund consequently becoming subject to Luxembourg laws) while keeping its legal personality through the process (to be adapted to the specific local requirements of the country of origin of the fund).
The current turmoil in the financial markets, associated with the increasing regulation in the Investment Funds industry, have led most of the well-known market players in the Asset Management industry to reconsider their range of products and even to close down poor performers. There can be several reasons for voluntary liquidation, including the restructuring of product ranges in order to increase efficiency or the introduction of new legal requirements which might create new opportunities for funds under a different legal form (e.g. UCITS IV, AIFMD).
We provide the following services to support you along the way of the process of liquidation:
- Preparation of the liquidation
- We review assets, liabilities and commitments.
- We draw up the liquidation plan.
- Management of the liquidation
- We act as a liquidator or support the liquidator in his tasks.
- Closure of the fund
- We terminate contracts with service providers.
- We manage the final pay-out.
- We deal with the publication and reporting tasks, including deregistration.
Contact us
Frédéric Vonner
Advisory Partner, Sustainable Finance & Sustainability Leader, PwC Luxembourg
Tel: +352 49 48 48 4173
