Private Funds in Ireland: A New Unauthorised Fund Structure?

The Minister for Finance on 21 December 2023 published a Progress Update on the review underway of the funds sector in Ireland (the “Review”). As part of the Review, a public consultation took place over the summer with the Department of Finance soliciting formal responses from both industry participants and private individuals. The Progress Update highlights the main trends and topics as identified in the responses. 

Dechert responded to the Review to propose changes to Ireland’s existing funds offering that we believe are needed for Ireland to become a domicile of choice for private funds in the future. In our submission, we stated that, in our view, the best way to make Ireland more attractive to private fund managers is for Ireland to offer a fund product that aligns with international standards and existing market practice for private funds, and which importantly would not itself be subject to additional product level regulation. Therefore, we are much encouraged that in its Progress Update the Department of Finance acknowledged the need for a competitive private funds structure in Ireland, noting its “immediate work will focus on (1) further understanding the commercial rationale for an unauthorised product structure for private assets and reviewing other structures used for such investment strategies”.

We believe such a change to Ireland’s existing private funds offering is particularly important given the increasing focus of investors on gaining exposure to private markets, and the need for Ireland to be in a position to cater to that. Such a product would assist in meeting the expectations of private fund managers with regard to product offering and support the continued growth of the Irish investment funds sector.

We will reach out to the Department of Finance to offer our continued support and assistance in further considering the potential unauthorised fund structure. If you are interested in joining the conversation in this developing space, please do reach out to us or one of your usual Dechert contacts.

For more details, please see Dechert’s response to the Review.