Hassans acts for the first Gibraltar fund to gain preferential private placement rights in Germany

Hassans has acted for the first Gibraltar fund to gain approval from the German regulator to privately place into Germany on a reciprocal right basis. The German regulator (BaFin) has recently adopted a reciprocal private placement policy the effect of which is that where German funds are allowed to be privately placed into other EU member states, funds from such member states may be privately placed into Germany on a separate and expedited basis.

Hassans had been aware of the new BaFin policy for some time and the firm has been at the forefront of developing a Gibraltar private placement regime to take advantage of the opportunity it offers. The new Gibraltar private placement regime came into effect on 11 December 2014.

The effect is dramatic for funds seeking to privately place into Germany. The usual private placement route into Germany is a complex and time consuming process. The reciprocal rights process is an entirely separate process which allows greater private placement access under a fast approval process. This gives Gibraltar as a fund jurisdiction a competitive advantage as a place to set up a fund where access to the German market is important.

Richard Bowry, senior associate in the Funds Team at Hassans, took a leading role in the drafting of the Gibraltar private placement regime. Richard said:

“This is great news for Gibraltar. As far as we know, Gibraltar is one of only two jurisdictions that currently has preferential private placement rights into Germany. This puts Gibraltar in something of a unique position. We already envisage a number of funds being set up in Gibraltar specifically to take advantage of the access rights Gibraltar has into Germany.”