AIFMD

PricewaterhouseCoopers believes that the Alternative Investment Fund Manager Directive (AIFMD) is and remains potentially the single most important regulatory event to happen to those involved in the European alternatives industry. We have prepared the attached briefing to provide you with both an update on the status of the AIFMD, how we expect it to progress over the coming months and also to advise how we think industry participants should be reacting now.

In recognition of the importance of the alternative asset management sector we have created a dedicated AIFMD Working Group, enabling an in-depth technical analysis of the AIFMD and the process around it. We have deliberately positioned ourselves as non-partisan and as educators, identifying consequences and, in particular unintended consequences – for example the major barriers the AIFMD is likely to throw up to both EU investors investing outside the EU on the one hand and, on the other, the barriers to non-EU capital sources investing into Europe at a time when economies could benefit from capital injection. We are strategically engaging with those influencing the shape of the final AIFMD.

Consistent with this positioning, we have been holding meetings with clients, both managers and investors, trade associations regulators and with parliamentarians and others with seats at the table negotiating the AIFMD as it moves through the Brussels/Strasbourg process.

We urge you to reach out to those who can influence the debate – MEPs, their assistants, your regulatory contacts and trade associations (and, crucially, your investors) to ensure that they too are better educated when it comes to making decisions and exercising their votes on a Directive, which will, in whatever shape it finally emerges, change the alternatives landscape in Europe fundamentally.

We will keep you informed of developments and their implications as clarity emerges and, as the impact on your business of the AIFMD becomes clearer and the shape of the final Directive is defined, we look forward to working with you to ensure that its impact on your business is understood and effectively managed.

If you have any questions on the AIFMD, please don't hesitate to contact one of our team of experts identified within the briefing.

Of further interest