Post by Sapphire Capital on Jul 12, 2008 0:03:44 GMT 4
On February 21 2008, the Luxembourg government submitted to parliament a draft law that includes measures designed to improve the legal framework of the Luxembourg financial sector. The draft law includes, among others, provisions aimed at making the regime applicable to investment companies in risk capital (Société d'Investissement en Capital Risque, SICAR) more attractive.
The main changes to be introduced by the draft law in respect of the SICAR are summarised hereafter:
* SICARs will be able to create multiple investment compartments with specific investment policies and eventually with securities of a different par value or no nominal value. The rights of investors and debtors will be limited to the investment compartments in which they hold securities. It will be possible to liquidate a compartment separately without liquidating the others.
* Persons involved in the management of the SICAR will be able to obtain the status of a qualified investor without needing to fulfill any additional conditions.
* Share premium will be taken into account for the computation of the minimum capital, that is, share capital + share premium will have to be at least €1 million ($1.6 million).
* The assets of the SICAR will have to be valued at fair market value.
* Requirements applicable to custodians of a SICAR will become the same as those applicable to the custodians of a specialised investment fund.
* SICARs will no longer be required to publish the net value of their assets.
* SICARs will be required to publish their annual report within six months following the end of the accounting year.
These changes follow three years of practical experience in setting up and running SICARs in Luxembourg, which have shown that the regulatory framework applicable to this vehicle could still be improved. The most popular change is the possibility to set up an umbrella SICAR with several compartments.
Source:
Paul Chambers (paul.chambers@atoz.lu), & Samantha Nonnenkamp (samantha.nonnenkamp@atoz.lu), Luxembourg
phone: +352 26 940 1
The main changes to be introduced by the draft law in respect of the SICAR are summarised hereafter:
* SICARs will be able to create multiple investment compartments with specific investment policies and eventually with securities of a different par value or no nominal value. The rights of investors and debtors will be limited to the investment compartments in which they hold securities. It will be possible to liquidate a compartment separately without liquidating the others.
* Persons involved in the management of the SICAR will be able to obtain the status of a qualified investor without needing to fulfill any additional conditions.
* Share premium will be taken into account for the computation of the minimum capital, that is, share capital + share premium will have to be at least €1 million ($1.6 million).
* The assets of the SICAR will have to be valued at fair market value.
* Requirements applicable to custodians of a SICAR will become the same as those applicable to the custodians of a specialised investment fund.
* SICARs will no longer be required to publish the net value of their assets.
* SICARs will be required to publish their annual report within six months following the end of the accounting year.
These changes follow three years of practical experience in setting up and running SICARs in Luxembourg, which have shown that the regulatory framework applicable to this vehicle could still be improved. The most popular change is the possibility to set up an umbrella SICAR with several compartments.
Source:
Paul Chambers (paul.chambers@atoz.lu), & Samantha Nonnenkamp (samantha.nonnenkamp@atoz.lu), Luxembourg
phone: +352 26 940 1