Introduction
2016 has proved to be another successful year for the Irish funds industry. Notwithstanding increased geopolitical uncertainty, an increase in both (i) asset levels and (ii) number of funds are each reflective of the Irish funds industry's continuing and sustained growth.
Asset levels in Irish domiciled funds now stand at approximately €6.3 trillion across 1,980 funds.[1]
ICAVs
Contributing to this success has been the Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicle ("ICAV"). The ICAV was introduced in March 2015 and has quickly established itself as the most popular vehicle for asset managers forming Irish funds. Approximately 70% of all funds authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland (the "CBI") since its introduction last year have been incorporated as ICAVs. Maples and Calder ("Maples") are the leading ICAV legal adviser with approximately 32% market share for all ICAVs authorised to date by the CBI.
2016 Irish Funds Report
Maples have maintained the ranking as the number one legal adviser to Irish serviced funds, as set out in the recently published Monterey Insight Ireland Fund Report 2016 (the "2016 Irish Funds Report"). This marks the fourth consecutive year that Maples has been ranked first in this category.
Maples are the acknowledged market leader in the establishment of new Irish domiciled funds with a 27% share of new business, according to the 2016 Irish Funds Report. Maples have advised on more new Irish fund launches than any other law firm for the seventh consecutive year.
Maples now advise 950 Irish domiciled funds (21% of the overall market) and added 187 funds during 2015-2016. This represents 25% growth, year-on-year, in terms of the overall number of Irish funds advised – making Maples the fastest growing firm in the Irish funds market.
Key Trends
Advising on more new Irish funds than any other law firm places Maples at the cutting edge of product innovation, market trends and regulatory policy issues. It also enables us to generate our Key Trends Report on the Irish Funds market.
2017 Outlook
We expect to see the growth levels in Irish funds continue in the form of further fund launches during 2017. In particular, we have seen a significant rise in UK-based deal flow in 2016 and we expect that trend to continue strongly in 2017.
We also look foward to potential reforms to Irish private equity rules and partnership legislation. Other trends are likely to include continued growth in UCITS, liquid alternatives and AIFMD compliant master-feeder structures for global marketing.
[1] Central Bank of Ireland, Q3 2016 statistics.
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