Private Equity


Luxembourg: the jurisdiction of choice for structuring Private Equity


Benefiting from a flexible tax and legal environment Luxembourg has been recognised for many years as a pre-eminent jurisdiction for structuring private equity funds and private equity deals. In a recent survey(1) conducted by the European Venture Capital Association, Luxembourg ranked amongst the top 10 favourable jurisdictions in Europe for the development of the Private Equity industry.

The launch in June 2004 of the SICAR ("société d'investissement en capital à risque") as an investment vehicle dedicated to Private Equity and Venture Capital is the latest illustration of Luxembourg commitment to your industry.

The Challenge

You intend to set up a pan-European or global private equity fund and/or your Fund will invest, through various instruments, in European companies. Also, as part of achieving your targeted return on investments you look at optimising the tax burden of your cross-border transactions. In this context you are faced with legal, fiscal and regulatory complexities in various jurisdictions and you find it difficult to coordinate between these jurisdictions.

PricewaterhouseCoopers solutions

We provide a full range of services to assist both start-up and institutional clients in establishing their funds and operations through any phase of the private equity investment lifecycle:

Structuring and financing

  • Providing assistance regarding the choice of an appropriate domicile and organisational structure;
  • Review, consultations and liaison with the local regulatory authorities, where and if appropriate;
  • Advice and consultation regarding financial, regulatory and fiscal compliance requirements;
  • Working with legal counsel and administrator to create the documents necessary for the establishment and offering of the private equity structure.

Investment period strategy

  • Deals origination and M&A financial advisory (acquisition mandates);
  • Financial, tax and market due diligences;
  • Valuation of investee companies;
  • Deals tax structuring.

Holding period

  • Audit services for funds and intermediate structures, specific attest reports (reorganisations, refinancings);
  • Providing assistance in recordkeeping and in the reporting process to respond to your specific needs and objectives, and to meet the needs of your investors.

Exit Strategy

  • Valuation of investee companies;
  • Vendor due diligence;
  • M&A financial advisory (disposal mandates);
  • Regulatory, tax and accounting advice regarding the repatriation of funds to investors.

Benefits for you

PricewaterhouseCoopers Luxembourg Private Equity Group can provide you with innovative tailored-to-your-needs solutions in structuring your private equity fund or your investments in Private Equity. Our integrated approach to problem solving involves a local and international network of private equity accounting, tax, regulatory, financial and consulting professionals who can quickly mobilise to form highly qualified teams.

Why PricewaterhouseCoopers Luxembourg?

We have a recognised global and local network of professional advisors who have extensive experience advising Private Equity houses and individuals knowledgeable in structuring, establishing and operating private equity strategies and products. Our multidisciplinary teams have the practical experience and the technical expertise to provide responsive, timely and value-added advice to your business.

Private Equity has been a key focus area of our firm for the last years, which shows our total commitment to your industry. In Luxembourg, our clients list contains major players in the Private Equity industry and we audit Private Equity funds with total assets in excess of one billion EUR.

Our expertise in Private Equity encompasses financial advisory in M&A transactions, financial, tax and market due diligences, tax advisory and auditing of funds or intermediary structures by specialised accountants who are supported by our Valuation team. As a global organisation PricewaterhouseCoopers has developed extensive thought leadership in the Private Equity industry as illustrates below a selection of our actions:

  • PricewaterhouseCoopers has contributed to the "Consultation Document - Valuation Guidelines for private equity and venture capital" (February 2005) for the AFIC, BVCA and EVCA, which has led to the new EVCA Valuation Guidelines;
  • We have recently publicised the "European Private Equity tax survey", which is a pan-European survey conducted amongst a number of Private Equity houses in Europe looking at how fiscal matters are considered. This survey is available on our website;
  • We conduct several surveys amongst the Venture Capital community. Most notable are The MoneyTree Survey, which survey on a quarterly basis the investment activity in the US, and VC BestPractices Survey, which is a periodic study of processes, policies, and views of the general partners, CFOs, controllers and others who take part in managing the day-to-day operations of a venture capital firm;
  • We publicise the Global Private Equity Survey, which is conducted on an annual basis by PricewaterhouseCoopers and 3i. Such publication is available on http://www.pwcmoneytree.com/;
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers organises a Private Equity Club, held in London to which more than 70 investment management companies active in Private Equity have subscribed. Our Luxembourg Private Equity and Venture Capital experts are also speakers at the Club.

Our Private Equity Leadership Team

Note:

(1) (Source: "Benchmarking European Tax and Legal Environments", EVCA, October 2008)