guidelines

The European long-term investment fund (ELTIF)

foreword

The European long-term investment fund (ELTIF) is a pan-European regime for Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) which channel the capital they raise towards European long-term investments in the real economy, in line with the European Union (EU)objective of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

The ELTIF represents a milestone in the development of the cross-border European long-term funds business.

This publication has been prepared by the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) in order to provide general information on the ELTIF, and ELTIF structures in Luxembourg.

The Luxembourg legal framework is diverse and flexible enough to fulfil the needs of a wide range of ELTIFs, their managers and investors.

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ELTIF – what is it?

Financial Vehicle corresponding to the Europe 2020 StrategyContribution to the implementation of the political objective: high level of employment and smart, sustainable growth.

Regulated Fund Vehicle, which provides with long-term und stable returns and pursues a long-term investment strategy.

70% of the capitalshall be invested in more or less clearly-defined long-term assets.

Institutional and Retail InvestorsRetail investors with a portfolio of up to EUR 500,000 shall not invest an aggregate amount exceeding 10% of their portfolio in ELTIFs. Initial amount not less than EUR 10 000. Written

alert for ELTIF whose lifecycle exceeds 10 years: „may not be

suitable for retail investors”.

Various Asset Classes(Private Equity, Infrastructure, specific Real Estate), as well as listed SMEs, participations, debt instruments, other ELTIF, EuVECA or EuSEF, risk diversification rules.

EU AIF (with EU-AIFM) hasRetail-Distribution Passport.

Priority according to EU

Commission Green Paper

ELTIFEuropeanLong TermInvestment

Funds

Long-term Investment of 70%

of the Capital

Institutional Investors

First-time EU Passport for the

pan-European Retail-Distribution

Various Asset Classes

Regulated Fund Vehicle

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executive summary

The ELTIF Regulation lays down minimum requirements which must be met by long-term funds in order to be authorised as an “ELTIF” or “European long-term investment fund”.

ELTIF must, inter alia, be managed by authorised Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) and meet minimum eligible asset and diversification requirements.

ELTIF may invest in long-term assets such as small and medium-sized businesses and the development and operation of infrastructure, public buildings, social infrastructure, transport, sustainable energy and communications infrastructure.

Authorised ELTIF will be permitted to:■ Use the designations “ELTIF” and

“European long-term investment fund”;■ Raise capital from institutional and retail

investors across the Member States of the European Union (EU) and other European Economic Area (EEA).

ELTIF – How could an ELTIF look like?

Nursing homes, schools, hospitals, prisons, social housings, investments in commercial or residential real estate only in restricted form.

Investments in ships, planes, facilities, machines.

Credits- Investment in debt instruments e.g. SMEs.

Investments in other ELTIFs, EuVECAs, EuSEFs, but partial cascade prohibition Investments in several infrastructure funds.

Ports, streets, pipelines, renewable energies,

power stations, waste disposal infrastructures,

communication networks etc.

Investments in equity or equity-related instruments of SMEs.

Real Estate Funds

Umbrella Funds

Debt Funds

Private Equity Funds

Real Assets

Infrastructure Funds

ELTIF

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what does the ELTIF mean for managers and investors?

■ ELTIFs will channel investment into development of European and international small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), infrastructure and certain types of real estate for the mutual benefit of European citizens, investors and managers;

■ Investors: ELTIF will meet demand from: - Institutional (including small and medium

sized) investors for a long-term fund regime - High net worth and retail investors

seeking exposure to e.g. long-term, typically illiquid, assets and the protection of a dedicated regime;

■ Managers: The ELTIF enables the managers of private equity, infrastructure and real estate funds to offer well-regulated European products meeting demand from investors and contributing to the European economy;

■ Cross-border funds: The ELTIF facilitates the development the European cross-border long-term funds which:

- Make investments in multiple countries - Are distributed to investors on

a cross-border basis - Are eligible to retail investors;

■ Public private partnerships: The ELTIF creates a harmonised EU regime for public private partnership (PPP) investments into SMEs and infrastructure;

■ ELTIF designation: The designations “ELTIF” and “European long-term investment fund” is expected to be recognized by institutional, professional investors and retail investors keen to make long-term investments via the ELTIF, both in Europe and (subject to certain conditions) globally;

■ Luxembourg role: The ELTIF strengthens the position of Luxembourg as a leading European centre for long-term funds and as an international hub for cross-border fund distribution.

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introducing the ELTIF

Authorisation as ELTIF, and approval of ELTIF managers

An ELTIF must be authorised by the competent authority of its home Member State in accordance with the ELTIF Regulation.

Only EU AIFs are eligible to apply for and to be granted authorisation as an ELTIF.

An ELTIF may either be managed by an authorised AIFM or be an internally managed AIF. In the latter case, the AIF have to be authorised under the AIFM Directive as an AIFM. A compartment of an EU AIF may be authorised as an ELTIF.

The application for authorisation as an ELTIF must include: ■ The constitutive document: the fund rules

or instruments of incorporation;■ Information on the identity of the proposed

manager of the ELTIF and its current and previous fund management experience and history;

■ Information on the identity of the depositary;■ A description of the information to be made

available to investors, including a description of the arrangements for dealing with complaints submitted by retail investors.

Authorisation as an ELTIF shall be valid for all Member States.

An application for approval to manage an ELTIF must be submitted to the competent authority of the ELTIF. The application for approval must include: ■ The written agreement with the depositary;■ Information on delegation arrangements

regarding portfolio and risk management and administration with regard to the ELTIF;

■ Information about the investment strategies, the risk profile and other characteristics of AIFs that the EU AIFM is authorised to manage.

The candidate ELTIF and its manager will be informed within three months from the date of submission of a complete application whether authorisation as an ELTIF, including approval for the EU AIFM to manage the ELTIF, has been granted.

ELTIF and their managers are subject to requirements, inter alia, on:■ Authorisation as ELTIF, and approval of

ELTIF managers;■ Investment rules: eligible assets and

permitted activities, portfolio diversification rules, and prohibited activities;

■ Lifetime, redemptions and secondary market;■ Distribution of proceeds and disposal

of assets;■ Transparency, including prospectus;■ Marketing to professional and retail

investors.

The requirements applicable to ELTIFs are laid down in the ELTIF Regulation1 which is, from 9 December 2015, directly applicable in EU Member States without national transposition.

The manager of the ELTIF must be an authorised AIFM, subject to the requirements of the AIFM Directive2 or the national law transposing the AIFM Directive, such as the Luxembourg AIFM Law3.

Any investment vehicle that qualifies as AIF is eligible to apply for and obtain the ELTIF label.

1 Regulation (EU) 2015/760 of 29 April 2015 on European long-term investment funds.2 Directive 2011/61/EU of 8 June 2011 on Alternative Investment Fund Managers.3 The Luxembourg AIFM Law is the Law of 12 July 2013 on alternative investment fund managers.

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Eligible assets and permitted activities

The eligible assets of ELTIF are:■ Eligible investment assets, the ELTIF’s

long-term investments, which may include: - Qualifying portfolio undertakings, which

are mainly unlisted companies - Real assets - Units or other ELTIFs, European Venture

Capital Funds (EuVECA) and European Social Entrepreneurship Funds (EuSEFs)

- SMEs■ Assets which are eligible assets for

Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS), which may include, inter alia:

- Equities - Bonds - Money market instruments - Units of other UCITS

A qualifying portfolio undertaking is a portfolio undertaking which is not a collective investment undertaking (CIU) or a financial undertaking which is either:■ Unlisted4;■ Listed with a market capitalisation of no

more than EUR 500 million5.

The qualifying portfolio undertaking must be either:■ Established in a EU Member State;■ Established in a third country that: - Is not a high-risk and non-cooperative

jurisdiction in relation to money laundering and terrorist financing identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

- Has signed an Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention with the home

Member State of the manager of the ELTIF and with every other Member State in which the units or shares of the ELTIF are intended to be marketed6.

ELTIF exposures to qualifying portfolio undertakings may include:■ Equity or quasi-equity instruments7 issued by

a qualifying portfolio undertaking;■ Debt instruments issued by a qualifying

portfolio undertaking;■ Loans granted by the ELTIF to a qualifying

portfolio undertaking.

ELTIF exposures to real assets8 may include direct holdings or indirect holdings via qualifying portfolio undertakings of individual real assets with a value of at least EUR 10 million or its equivalent at the time when the expenditure is incurred.

Where the ELTIF invests in units or other ELTIFs, EuVECAs and EuSEFs, the underlying ELTIFs, EuVECAs and EuSEFs must not themselves invested more than 10 % of their capital in ELTIFs.

An ELTIF may use financial derivative instruments for the purpose of hedging the risks inherent to other investments of the ELTIF, but not for speculative purposes.

An ELTIF may enter into securities lending, securities borrowing, repurchase transactions, or any other agreement which has an equivalent economic effect and poses similar risks, if thereby no more than 10 % of the assets of the ELTIF are affected.

Investment rules

4 Not admitted to trading on a regulated market or on a multilateral trading facility (MTF).5 Admitted to trading on a regulated market or on an MTF and at the same time has a market capitalisation

of no more than EUR 500 million.6 An agreement with the home Member State of the manager of the ELTIF and with every other Member State in

which the units or shares of the ELTIF are intended to be marketed to ensure that the third country fully complies with the standards laid down in Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital and ensures an effective exchange of information in tax matters, including any multilateral tax agreements.

7 “Quasi-equity” is defined as any type of financing instrument where the return on the instrument is linked to the profit or loss of the qualifying portfolio undertaking and where the repayment of the instrument in the event of default is not fully secured.

8 A “real asset” is defined as an asset that has value due to its substance and properties and may provide returns, including infrastructure and other assets that give rise to economic or social benefit, such as education, counselling, research and development, and including commercial property or housing only where they are integral to, or an ancillary element of, a long-term investment project that contributes to the Union objective of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

introducing the ELTIF

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Diversification and concentration rules

An ELTIF must invest at least 70 % of its capital in eligible investment assets within a maximum of five years of authorisation9.

An ELTIF can invest up to:■ 10% of its capital in instruments issued by,

or loans granted to, any single qualifying portfolio undertaking;

■ 10% of its capital directly or indirectly in a single real asset;

■ 10% of its capital in units of any single ELTIF, EuVECA or EuSEF;

■ 5% of its capital in eligible assets for UCITS, where those assets have been issued by any single body.

The aggregate value of units of ELTIFs, EuVECAs and EuSEFs in an ELTIF portfolio must not exceed 20 % of the value of the capital of the ELTIF. An ELTIF cannot acquire more than 25% of the units or shares of a single ELTIF, EuVECA, or EuSEF.

An ELTIF may raise the 10% limit on investment in qualifying portfolio undertakings and in individual real assets to 20%, provided that the aggregate value of the assets held by the ELTIF in qualifying portfolio undertakings and in individual real assets in which it invests more than 10% of its capital does not exceed 40% of the value of the capital of the ELTIF.

Borrowing rules

An ELTIF may borrow cash provided that the borrowing: ■ Represents no more than 30 % of the value

of the capital of the ELTIF;■ Serves the purpose of investing in eligible

investment assets, except for loans to qualifying portfolio holdings, provided that the holdings in cash or cash equivalents of the ELTIF are not sufficient to make the investment concerned;

■ Is contracted in the same currency as the assets to be acquired with the borrowed cash;

■ Has a maturity no longer than the life of the ELTIF; and

■ Encumbers assets that represent no more than 30 % of the value of the capital of the ELTIF.

Prohibitions

An ELTIF is prohibited from: ■ Short selling of assets;■ Taking direct or indirect exposure to

commodities;■ Entering into securities lending, securities

borrowing, repurchase transactions, or any other agreement which has an equivalent economic effect and poses similar risks, if thereby more than 10 % of the assets of the ELTIF are affected; and

■ Using derivatives (except for hedging purposes).

9 The 70% limit applies from the date specified in the constitutive document of the ELTIF, which must not be later than five years after the date of the authorisation as an ELTIF or half the life of the ELTIF, whichever is the earlier. In exceptional circumstances, the competent authority of the ELTIF, upon submission of a duly justified investment plan, may approve an extension of this time limit by no more than one additional year.

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In general, ELTIF are closed-ended funds. Investors in an ELTIF cannot request the redemption of their units before the end of the life of the ELTIF. Redemptions to investors become possible from the day following the date of the end of the life of the ELTIF.

The disclosures to investors must:■ Indicate the date of the end of the life of the

ELTIF as well as any right to extend temporarily the life of the ELTIF and the conditions for exercising such a right;

■ Lay down the procedures for the redemption of units and the disposal of assets;

■ State clearly that redemptions to investors will commence on the day following the date of the end of life of the ELTIF.

However, the manager of the ELTIF may provide for the possibility of redemptions before the end of the life of the ELTIF, provided that all of the following conditions are fulfilled: ■ Redemptions are not granted before the date

specified in the constitutive document of the ELTIF, which must not be before five years after the date of the authorisation as an

ELTIF or half the life of the ELTIF, whichever is the earlier;

■ The manager of the ELTIF is able to demonstrate that an appropriate liquidity management system and effective procedures for monitoring the liquidity risk of the ELTIF are in place, which are compatible with the long-term investment strategy of the ELTIF and the proposed redemption policy;

■ Redemptions are limited to the defined amount;

■ The redemption policy of the ELTIF ensures that investors are treated fairly and redemptions are granted on a pro rata basis if the total redemption requests exceed the amount invested in eligible assets for UCITS.

The units of an ELTIF may be:■ Admitted to trading on a regulated market

or an MTF;■ Freely transferred by investors to third

parties other than the manager of the ELTIF.

An ELTIF must adopt an itemised schedule for the orderly disposal of its assets in order to redeem investors’ units or shares after the end of the life of the ELTIF, and shall disclose this to the competent authority at the latest one year before the end of life of the ELTIF.

An ELTIF may regularly distribute to investors the proceeds generated by the assets contained in its portfolio. Those proceeds may comprise: ■ Proceeds that the assets are regularly

producing;

■ Capital appreciation realised after the disposal of an asset.

An ELTIF may reduce its capital on a pro rata basis in the event of a disposal of an asset before the end of the life of the ELTIF, provided that such a disposal is duly considered to be in the investors’ interests by the manager of the ELTIF.

Lifetime, redemptions and secondary market

Disposal of assets and distribution of proceeds

introducing the ELTIF

9

A prospectus must be published for each ELTIF. The prospectus must include all information necessary to enable investors to make an informed assessment regarding the investment proposed to them and, in particular, the risks attached thereto.

The prospectus of the ELTIF shall contain at least the following:■ A statement setting out how the ELTIF’s

investment objectives and strategy for achieving these objectives qualify the fund as long-term in nature;

■ Certain information to be disclosed by closed-ended UCIs in accordance with the Prospectus Directive;10

■ Disclosures required under AIFMD;■ Indication of the categories of assets in which

the ELTIF is authorised to invest;■ An indication of the jurisdictions in which

the ELTIF is allowed to invest; and ■ Any other information required by the

competent authority.

In addition, the prospectus and any other marketing documents must, inter alia:■ Prominently inform investors about the

illiquid nature of the ELTIF;

■ State the specific date for the end of the life of the ELTIF and any right to extend temporarily the life of the ELTIF;

■ Inform investors about the long-term nature of the ELTIF’s investments;

■ Inform investors about the end of the life of the ELTIF as well as any option to extend the life of the ELTIF;

■ State whether the ELTIF is intended to be marketed to retail investors;

■ Explain the rights of investors to redeem their investment;

■ State the frequency and the timing of any distributions of proceeds to investors during the life of the ELTIF;

■ Advise investors that only a small proportion of their overall investment portfolio should be invested in an ELTIF.

Where the units of the ELTIF are marketed to retail investors, the ELTIF will be considered as a packaged retail investment product and required to published a key information document (KID) under Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 of 26 November 2014 on key information documents for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPs).

Transparency

Marketing to professional and retail investors

The manager of an ELTIF is permitted to market the units or shares of that ELTIF to professional and retail investors in its home Member State and in other Member States upon notification of its competent authority in accordance with the AIFM Directive.

Marketing to retail investors

Where the manager intends to market the ELTIF to retail investors, additional requirements apply.

These include requirements on:■ Internal assessment process: the manager of

the ELTIF manager is required to establish and apply a specific internal process to assess whether the ELTIF is suitable for marketing to retail investors;

■ Information for distributors: the manager of the ELTIF must make available to any distributor all appropriate information on an ELTIF that is marketed to retail investors as well as the internal assessment process;

10 Directive 2003/71/EC and Regulation (EC) No 809/2004.

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■ Provision of investment advice: the manager of the ELTIF or the distributor must provide the retail investors with appropriate investment advice;

■ ELTIF manager authorisation to provide investment advice: where the manager of an ELTIF directly offers or places units of the ELTIF with retail investors, the manager must be authorised to provide the additional services of discretionary portfolio management and investment advice;

■ Suitability test: When directly offering or placing units of an ELTIF with a retail investor, the manager of the ELTIF is required to obtain information regarding the retail investor’s knowledge and experience in the investment field relevant to the ELTIF, financial situation, including that investor’s ability to bear losses, and investment objectives, including that investor’s time horizon. Based on the information obtained, the manager of the ELTIF may recommend the ELTIF only if it is suitable for that particular retail investor;

■ Specific investor warning regarding a prolonged life of ELTIFs: Where the life of an ELTIF exceeds 10 years, the manager of the ELTIF or the distributor is required to issue a clear written alert that the ELTIF product may not be suitable for retail investors that are unable to sustain such a long-term and illiquid commitment;

■ Entry thresholds test: where the financial instrument portfolio of a potential retail investor does not exceed EUR 500,000, the manager of the ELTIF or any distributor is required to ensure that the potential retail investor does not invest an aggregate amount exceeding 10 % of that investor’s financial instrument portfolio in ELTIFs and that the initial minimum amount invested in one or more ELTIFs is EUR 10,000. The manager of the ELTIF or any distributor may rely on the information submitted by the potential retail investor;

■ No preferentrial treatment rule: all investors must benefit from equal treatment; no preferential treatment or specific economic benefits may be granted to individual investors or groups of investors;

■ Limitation of investor liability rule: the liability of the retail investor must be limited to the the original capital commitment;

■ Withdrawal right: retail investors must be permitted to cancel their subscription and have the money returned without penalty, during the subscription period and at least two weeks after the date of their subscription to units of the ELTIF;

■ Investor complaints: the manager of an ELTIF marketed to retail investors must establish appropriate procedures and arrangements to deal with retail investor complaints, which allow retail investors to file complaints in the official language or one of the official languages of their Member State;

■ Local facilities: the manager of the ELTIF must ensure that facilities are available, in each Member State in which it intends to market the ELTIF, for making subscriptions, making payments to unitholders, repurchasing or redeeming units or shares and making available the information which the ELTIF and the manager of the ELTIF are required to provide;

■ Depositary: - The depositary of an ELTIF marketed to

retail investors must be an entity which is eligible to be the depositary of a UCITS.

- It must not be able to discharge itself of liability in the event of a loss of financial instruments held in custody by a third party and the liability of the depositary must not be excluded or limited by agreement.

- The assets held in custody by the depositary of an ELTIF must not be reused by the depositary, or by any third party to whom the custody function has been delegated, for their own account.

introducing the ELTIF

11

Increase/decrease of capital ***Don’t apply

12 months max (17.1 (c))

Compliance with 11 (1)

3 years max

Not compliant anymore (17.2)

1 yearRequest wind-up request from investors (18.4)

1 year

AU

THO

RIS

ATI

ON

Earliest of :- 5 years after autorisation or- Half of life time of ELTIF(17-1 §2) * EN

D O

F LI

FE *

*

LIQ

UID

ATI

ON

/

TER

M

INVESTMENT PERIOD HOLDING PERIOD DISVESTMENT

PERIOD

DIVERSIFICATIONRULES

Don’t apply17.1 (a)

Apply Don’t apply17.1 (b)

ASSET ELIGIBILITYRULES

RE

DE

MP

TIO

N OPEN-ENDEDNot possible

17.2 (a) Possible ****

CLOSED-ENDEDNot possible

18.1 §1Possible18.1 §1

DISPOSALPresentation of realisation

plan (21.1)

Marketing Notification

The marketing notification to the competent authority must specify whether or not manager of an ELTIF intends to market the ELTIF to retail investors. In addition to the documentation and information required under the AIFM Directive the manager of the ELTIF must provide competent authorities with: ■ The prospectus of the ELTIF;

■ Where the ELTIF is marketed to retail investors:

- The KID; - Information on the facilities available for

making subscriptions, making payments to unitholders, repurchasing or redeeming units or shares and making available the information which the ELTIF and the manager of the ELTIF are required to provide.

ELTIF Life Timeline

* Possible extension of maximum one year with regulator approval (17.1 §2)** Defined in the documentation. Extension possible if provided for in documentation*** Doesn’t cover capital calls/redemption but admission of new investors or increase of commitment

by existing investors **** In accordance with documentation

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The Association of the Luxembourg FundIndustry (ALFI), the representative body forthe Luxembourg investment fund community,was founded in 1988. Today it represents more than 1 300 Luxembourg-domiciled investment funds, asset management companies and a wide variety of service providers including depositary banks, fund administrators, transfer agents, dis-tributors, law firms, consultants, tax advisers,auditors and accountants, specialist IT providers and communications agencies.

Luxembourg is the largest fund domicilein Europe and its investment fund industryis a worldwide leader in cross-border funddistribution. Luxembourg-domiciledinvestment structures are distributed inmore than 70 countries around the globe,with a particular focus on Europe, Asia,Latin America and the Middle East.

ALFI defines its mission as to “Lead industryefforts to make Luxembourg the mostattractive international centre”.

Its main objectives are to:

Help members capitalise on industry trendsALFI’s many technical committees andworking groups constantly review andanalyse developments worldwide, as well aslegal and regulatory changes in Luxembourg,the EU and beyond, to identify threats andopportunities for the Luxembourg fundindustry.

Shape regulationAn up-to-date, innovative legal and fiscalenvironment is critical to defend andimprove Luxembourg’s competitive positionas a centre for the domiciliation, administration and distribution of investment funds. Strong relationships with regulatory authorities, the government and the legislative body enable ALFI to make an effective contribution to decision-making through relevant input for changes to the regulatory framework, implementation of Euro-pean directives and regulation of new products or services.

Foster dedication to professionalstandards, integrity and qualityInvestor trust is essential for success incollective investment services and ALFI thusdoes all it can to promote high professionalstandards, quality products and services,and integrity. Action in this area includesorganising training at all levels, defining codes of conduct, transparency and good corporate governance, and supporting initiatives to combat money laundering.

Promote the Luxembourg investment fund industryALFI actively promotes the Luxembourginvestment fund industry, its products and its ser-vices. It represents the sector in financial and in economic missions organised by the Luxembourg government around the world and takes an active part in meetings of the global fund industry.

ALFI is an active member of the EuropeanFund and Asset Management Association,of the European Federation for Retirementand of the International Investment FundsAssociation.

To keep up to date with all the news from the association and the fund industry in Luxem-bourg, join us on LinkedIn (The Luxembourg Fund Industry Group by ALFI), Twitter (@ALFIfunds), Youtube, Vimeo or visit our website at www.alfi.lu.

about alfi

This brochure does not constitute legal advice and is merely intended to raise issues relating to the ELTIF regulation. An ALFI working group dedicated to ELTIFs is working on Practical guidance on this topic.

European long-term investment fund (ELTIF)

guidelines

September 2015 © 2015 ALFI. All rights reserved.