Asset Servicing

​​​​​​​Ambitions to build on Luxembourg’s global hub status for investment funds to make this country a global fund distribution centre are being held back by differing national approaches on regulations as well as prudential rules, despite efforts to harmonise European legislation and the EU’s cross-border fund framework. 

Marking its first anniversary in Luxembourg, Warsaw-headquartered depositary services firm Q Securities on Wednesday said that it is aiming for 30 alternative funds as clients by this end of the year and 50 funds next year, up from the 20 it has onboarded in its first 12 months in the grand duchy.

Pictet Asset Services, the asset servicing business line of the Switzerland-based Pictet Group, has launched a new platform where its clients and asset managers can monitor ESG risk exposures.

The platform enables external asset managers and institutional clients to monitor their portfolios’ ESG risks with a detailed environmental, social and governance risk analysis as well as carbon and physical risk analysis.

Apex Group, a Bermuda-headquartered fund services provider with substantial operations in Luxembourg, has opened a new office in Stockholm from which it will service clients in the Nordics region. The firm also has announced it acquired the parent company of IIS and InvestNow  in New Zealand.

A reserved alternative investment fund registered in Luxembourg turns out to have played a central role in the 165 million euro financing of the Palazzo Marini, Bill Gates’ new six-star hotel in the centre of Rome, close to the Trevi fountain. The team that supported the deal from Luxembourg was at law firm Dentons, with European Capital Partners SA as AIFM.

Apex Group, a fund services provider with substantial operations in Luxembourg, on Thursday said it has acquired Prometa Fund Support Services Inc., a Canada-based provider of fund services. Financial details were not disclosed.

Canada’s main pension fund, CPP Investments, has agreed to become a major shareholder in Universal Investment, a leading third-party Super ManCo in Luxembourg, by acquiring a significant stake in the firm from private equity and venture capital firm Montagu. The deal demonstrates that investors worldwide see further potential in Luxembourg’s growing asset services market.

Finland’s Mandatum Asset Management and fund services platform Universal Investment on Monday said they have launched a new open-ended Senior Secured Loan Fund for professional investors in Europe that will finance leveraged buyouts in Scandinavia and Europe. The fund is structured as a Luxembourg Raif and targets approximately one billion euro on the long term.

Growth in funds registered as Reserved Alternative Investment Funds, known as Raifs, in Luxembourg has increased considerably in the first half of this year , according to an analysis of data from the Luxembourg Business Registry by Investment Officer Luxembourg.

Luxembourg-based investment services provider IQ-EQ has named Shaun Geils as its global head of insurance.

Geils is stepping into a newly-created position intended to support IQ-EQ’s service offering from the firm’s London office in the United Kingdom.