• Ireland addresses needs of funds seeking "onshore" advantages
  • Accounting requirements for SEC-registered companies eased
  • New legislation reduces paperwork for redomiciled funds

The Irish hedge fund industry has welcomed a law passed by the Irish government on 18 December which will make re-domiciliation of funds to Ireland simpler and more efficient. Amendments to the original Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (http://tinyurl.com/yz26l4a) contains measures intended to address what the Irish Funds Industry describes as the "challenges currently experienced when re-domiciling a fund" and allow a fund structured as a corporate entity in another jurisdiction to re-register in Ireland keeping its original corporate identity.

At the heart of the new legislation is a relaxation of the rule that companies headquartered in Ireland must send an Irish GAAP or IFRS-based annual report and accounts to every shareholder. The Act allows Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registered companies merely to amend their US GAAP accounts so as to comply with the Irish accounting regime.

Amendments(http://tinyurl.com/ylx63wv) to the legislation affect funds more closely, by including a provision which allows a fund to be redomiciled at a single meeting of shareholders in the jurisdiction from which the fund is seeking to move, and by a single filing of registration documentation with the Companies Registration Office in Ireland with a statutory declaration from a director of the company concerned.

Speaking in the Seannad Eirann, the upper house of the Irish parliament, one parliamentarian commented that while recent turmoil had inflicted damage on the finance industry, Ireland's "reputation in the context of funds management administration and the financial services in general" remained relatively unscathed, due to the country's good governance, oversight and regulation.

He said he was hopeful that the move would encourage funds keen to move "onshore" to a more regulated jurisdiction, would choose Ireland. Mary Coughlan, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment said that as investment funds sought to re-establish themselves in regulated jurisdictions it was "appropriate that we enable them to do so by ensuring our legislative framework is as efficient as possible."

The Irish Funds Industry also welcomed the legislation, and said in a statement (http://tinyurl.com/yzjno63) that it provided a "clear framework designed to address and minimise the challenges currently experienced when redomiciling a fund...thus reducing cost and burden...by eliminating unnecessary shareholder meetings, notary declarations, certificates and reports."

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