The European Securities and Markets Authority published on May
24 its final report on guidelines for key concepts under the
Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. The report
reflects feedback received by ESMA following its publication of a
discussion paper on key concepts and types of alternative fund
manager on February 23 last year, and in particular a consultation
paper issued on December 19.
The consultation paper, which received 37 responses from asset
managers, banks, law firms, industry associations, a private equity
administrator and public authorities, set out formal proposals for
guidelines ensuring common, uniform and consistent application
of the concepts in the definition of alternative investment funds
in Article 4(1)(a) of the directive by providing
clarification on each of these concepts. An important factor
is avoiding regulatory arbitrage resulting from national regulators
interpreting terms used in the directive in different ways.
