Esma publishes final AIFMD guidelines

One of the main objectives of the transposition to the AIFMD in July was to bring greater transparency to the activities and assets of AIFMs. Under the directive, AIFMs must regularly report certain information to national supervisors.

Under Esma's guidelines, AIFMs will have to give regular reports on their investment strategies, including information on the principal markets and instruments in which an AIF trades.

AIFMs will also have to regularly provide information on the state of their portfolio concentrations. For example, AIFMs will be required to disclose total value of assets under management for each managed fund and geographical focus. However, Esma omitted the obligation to disclose turnover of vehicles due to a high level of negative feedback on the proposal.

According to the guidelines, the reporting period has been aligned to the calendar year to fall on the last business days of March, June, September and December, despite concerns expressed by some stakeholders about the additional burden it may create for some AIFMs.

Esma has also stated that the date AIFMs should start reporting to their national competent authority (NCA) depended largely on existing reporting obligations. The authority recommends that AIFMs should start reporting "as from the first day of the following quarter after they have information to report until the end of the first reporting period".

For fund-of-funds managers, Esma has clarified that AIFMs will not be required to look through the holdings of underlying funds in which the fund invests when fulfilling reporting requirements for funds-of-funds. Fund-of-funds managers will have to indicate whether they are a fund-of-private equity funds manager or a fund-of-hedge funds manager.

Private equity fund strategies will have to be outlined to include the percentage of net asset value (NAV) represented by all strategies of a fund. For example, a GP will report that an AIF is a "multi-strategy private equity fund" and will indicate that 50% of NAV is allocated to venture capital and the balance to mezzanine capital, or a firm will indicate that a fund's sole strategy is venture capital, with 100% of NAV.

Private equity AIFMs will also have to indicate geographical focus of a fund, as well as the typical deal size a fund would make. The options are: Very small ( < €5m); Small (€5-25m); lower mid-market (€25-150m); upper mid-market (€150-500m); large-cap (€500m-1bn); and mega-cap (€1bn+).

To view Esma's list of documents regarding AIFMD guidelines for AIFMs, click here.

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• Topics
• Regulation
• AIFM Directive
• ESMA