AIF Funds

Bender Brother & Co’s experience with alternative assets has allowed its investment office to develop a specialised expertise in the structuring of AIF funds for entrepreneurial families.  Private equity, real estate, private debt, infrastructure and hedge funds have grown in popularity with the advantage of being largely uncorrelated to increasingly volatile public markets.  Since the introduction of the EU AIFM Directive 2013, stringent investor protection rules have all but ruled out reverse solicitation and private placement as acceptable marketing strategies.  It is therefore important to approach the European market from an EEA member state such as Liechtenstein, which has a number of advantages over other jurisdictions.

 

The robust banking system affords clients exceptionally low counterparty risk in keeping with the Principality’s AAA sovereign credit rating.  This consideration is particularly important as alternative investment funds (AIF) are required to custodise assets in the country of their domicile; whether it be Liechtenstein, Ireland or Cyprus.

 

​Regulatory procedures are efficient which is possible in a country of 40,000 inhabitants and whose skills are augmented daily by expertise from Switzerland, Austria and Germany.  As the regulator has a statutory 20 days to approve a new alternative investment fund, time-to-market is considerably shorter than elsewhere.   

 

​Although Liechtenstein applies corporation tax at 12.5%, there is no stamp duty or levies on dividends, interest and capital gains at the fund level. The Principality is considered by the OECD and the European Union to be an onshore white-listed jurisdiction rather than a tax haven in spite of a low fiscal burden and possibilities for versatile corporate structuring.