MS Management Services S.A., a Luxembourg-based subsidiary of Maitland, acts as an external alternative investment fund manager (AIFM) for private equity and real estate (PERE) alternative investment funds.
Due to rising global demand for PERE services that comply with the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), particularly from key jurisdictions in Europe, North and South America and Asia, Maitland recently extended its AIFM licence to cover these increasingly popular asset classes.
Maitland has offered AIFMD-compliant management company and product solutions to hedge funds and fund of hedge funds since the launch of its Luxembourg manco in May 2015. Maitland itself was founded in Luxembourg 40 years ago as a law firm and is a well-respected service provider in the jurisdiction. It has grown over the years to include corporate and fund services and is now one of the world’s fastest-growing institutional fund administrators. Maitland operates from 14 offices in 12 countries with over $280 billion of assets under administration.
Through the new PERE licence, clients using Maitland’s Luxembourg manco can now market and distribute PERE fund products (AIFs) to professional investors across the European Union, using the passporting facility offered by the licence.
Kavitha Ramachandran, Director of MS Management Services, says: “Our ability to offer integrated management company and full suite administration services for PERE clients including accounting and reporting sets us apart from most other service providers. Maitland’s PERE licence extension means that managers can now rely completely on Maitland to provide governance, compliance, risk management, administration and reporting duties – and focus on asset gathering and investment opportunities.
“What is more, given Maitland’s in-house legal expertise, we are able to advise on the optimal jurisdiction and structure for a fund, as well as set it up should clients so require.”
Heightened demand for transparency in respect of investment risk has become of paramount importance for PERE managers, and has placed considerable pressure on PERE funds in the process. The difficulty managers have had with meeting reporting standards is perhaps understandable, as PERE funds are complex structures comprised of illiquid and non-tradeable assets. These difficulties underline the value of outsourcing such responsibilities to expert administrators.
Maitland deploys the latest version of SunGard’s Investran, a global best-of-breed private equity IT platform which has been configured in line with industry best practices.
Luxembourg is Europe’s leading onshore fund domicile and was the second EU member state to adopt the AIFMD; resident firms, skilled in constructing and operating within a highly successful funds market under the aegis of Ucits two decades previously, were not alarmed by the AIFMD’s arrival.
Instead, the sector seized the opportunity to establish the domicile as a hub for alternative fund distribution. This eager embrace has afforded established firms like Maitland a ‘first mover’ advantage – especially as investors increasingly view the AIFMD as an opportunity rather than a threat. Operating under the auspices of the directive is increasingly accepted as a certificate of legitimacy, and AIFMD compliance has become a major selling point in the process.
©2016 funds europe
