Elvinger Hoss Prussen assists Quilvest and Partners in setting up the two first RAIFs

Today, on 28th July 2016, the new Luxembourg law on reserved alternative investment funds (“RAIF Law”) came into force.

On the same day, Elvinger Hoss Prussen assisted Quilvest Private Equity (the Private Equity arm of the Quilvest Group) in setting up QS RE Investment Programs SCA SICAV-RAIF ("QS RE IP") and QS PE Fund SCA SICAV-RAIF ("QS PE Fund") as reserved alternative investment funds ("RAIFs") pursuant to this new regime.

The two RAIFs will be managed by Quilvest Asset Management S.A. ("QAM") acting as authorised alternative investment fund manager within the meaning of the Directive 2011/61/EU of 8 June 2011 on alternative investment fund managers ("AIFMD") and RBC Investor & Treasury Services will act as Depositary as required by the RAIF Law and AIFMD.

Under the RAIF Law, QS RE IP and QS PE Fund have been set up without the need of any prior authorisation from the Luxembourg supervisory authority (the CSSF) and will not be subject to any ongoing supervision by the CSSF. However, QAM is subject to permanent supervision by the CSSF, including reporting obligations on the AIFs it manages, including QS RE IP and QS PE Fund.

QS RE IP and QS PE Fund will also innovate as regards their tax regimes: the two RAIFs will adopt a different tax regime, as permitted by the RAIF Law: QS RE IP will be subject to the taxe abonnement regime whilst QS PE Fund, which will invest exclusively in risk capital investments, will be subject to the tax regime similar to the one currently applicable to Luxembourg.

Bernard Charpentier, General Counsel at Quilvest Private Equity says: "12 years after launching one of the first SICAR in the Luxembourg investment fund history, Quilvest European Partners S.A. SICAR, we are delighted to launch today the two first RAIFs with the help of our long term legal adviser, Elvinger Hoss Prussen. We were initially intending to set up these new vehicles as SIF and SICAR, respectively, but we have finally decided to set them up as RAIFs as we consider that the RAIF Law ideally combines flexibility, short time-to-market, protection of investors by the AIFMD framework and the possibility for marketing with the EU passport. These RAIFs will host the new vintages of our programmes private equity programmes QS GEO and QS PE-DM (formerly QS PEP) and private equity real estate programme QS REP."

Jacques Elvinger, Head of investment funds at Elvinger Hoss Prussen adds: "We are proud that the idea of the need for the RAIF to complete the Luxembourg toolbox came from partners of our firm who have subsequently been leading the process for convincing the governmental and regulatory authorities in Luxembourg to initiate the legislative process for this new structure, and who have been instrumental in the drafting of the RAIF Law. We are obviously delighted that together with our long term client Quilvest we have had the opportunity to set up the first vehicles which have opted to make use of this new regime."

For further information on the RAIF Law, please refer to the latest Elvinger Hoss Prussen publications on the subject: a Newsflash on the RAIF, the RAIF Brochure and the full text (with an English translation) of the RAIF Law.

For questions on the RAIF, please contact your usual contact lawyer at Elvinger Hoss Prussen.

For questions on QS RE IP and QS PE Fund, please contact Marta Wypusz, Contact, +33 17662 3541