Looking to distribute your fund cross-border into France?
Here are 6 key things to note:
1. Approval to use the AIFMD private placement regime is in practice, to the best of counsel’s knowledge, never granted. This means that where either AIF or AIFM are based outside the EEA, it is not possible to actively market/sell them in France.
2. It is possible to use the AIFMD marketing passport market for an EEA AIF that has an EEA AIFM. To test investor appetite in advance of the passport notification, it is possible to do some pre-marketing (although an informal letter should be submitted to the AIFM’s home regulator within 2 weeks).
3. If using the UCITS marketing passport, note that the AMF expressly recommends the appointment of a correspondent agent.
4. The AMF may request to be provided with the marketing materials of an AIF/UCITS that is being marketed in France.
5. In terms of licensing, there is no third-country exemption/cross-border licensing regime. Where a firm’s activities amount to an investment service (as assessed on case-by-case basis) then the MiFID II licensing requirement is triggered. Firms will either need to set up a French presence with the necessary authorisation or appoint a locally licensed intermediary unless they can utilise an EEA passport.
6. It may be possible to rely on a reverse enquiry without triggering any firm licensing/fund notification requirements but certain conditions must be satisfied (and note a stricter approach is taken where dealing with retail investors!).
How aosphere can help
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