Registered Alternative Investment Funds (RAIFs) are geared to Professional and Well-Informed Investors only and offer a quick and cost-efficient fund launch of only one month from the date of filling a duly completed ‘notification pack’ to regulator CySEC, which will include the AIF in the list of Registered AIFs.
Similar to the Luxembourg RAIF, the Cyprus Registered AIF will be able to market to investors across the EUand will be managed by a full scope Cyprus or EU Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM). Although the RAIF is not ‘authorised’, it is indirectly subject to regulatory oversight through its AIFM. In addition to the full scope AIFM, a sub-threshold AIFM which is subject to prudential regulation, a MiFID Investment Firm and UCITS management company established in Cyprus or any EU Member State may also manage a RAIF, provided it is a closed-ended limited partnership and invests more than 70% in illiquid assets.
The new vehicle also provides structuring flexibility as it may be organised in any legal form available under Cyprus Law (investment company with fixed or variable capital, limited partnership or common fund), it can be open or closed-ended and it can follow any strategy and invest in any type of assets, with the exception that it cannot be established as a Money Market or Loan Origination Fund.
Key Features of a RAIF
- No licencing required
- No Minimum Capital Requirements
- No Investment Restrictions
- Multiple Compartments Possible
- Can operate as open or close ended
- Units of RAIFs may be listed
- Requirement to appoint local Depository
- Addressed solely to Well-Informed and/or Professional Investors
