Arendt & Medernach

PwC Luxembourg is enhancing its real estate capabilities with the addition of new partner Pierre Wauthier, a veteran with over two decades of experience in Luxembourg’s real estate and deal markets. Wauthier joins the firm after three years at law firm Arendt & Medernach, which had joined in 2020 after nine years at PwC.

Luxembourg’s financial sector has felt targeted by the European Commission’s tax policy. Three subsequent anti-tax avoidance directives - known as Atad 1, 2 and 3 – each added more reporting requirements or forced adjustments to tax structures. In July the Commission referred Luxembourg to the Court of Justice of the European Union over how it extended an exemption from interest deductibility limits to EU securitisation entities in implementing the first Atad directive. But Luxembourg feels it has a strong case and seems happy to settle it in court.

Europe’s fund and asset management organisation Efama, active in the development of the updated European long-term investment fund, expressed  strong optimism this week about the updated vehicle’s interest to both professional and retail investors and its ability to fulfill its Capital Market Union aspirations.

Despite early questioning of its ability to provide sufficient liquidity to attract retail investors, Efama’s expert detailed how the legislation provides several tools that afford liquidity solutions.

Secondary funds are gaining traction in Luxembourg’s private equity market. Unlike primary funds, secondary funds invest in assets that have mostly completed their investment periods. Their rising popularity suggests “there is some tension in the market as players search for liquidity or focus,” said Gregory Beltrame, partner at Arendt & Medernach. 

Financial sanctions against Russia and the exposure of investment funds to Russian assets were widely discussed at the 2022 European Asset Management Conference in Luxembourg, hosted by the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry, or Alfi, on 22-23 March.

Even as limited trading resumed on Moscow’s exchange on Thursday, prospects for emerging market funds exposed to Russia remained cloudy as determining accurate asset values continued to be nearly impossible. Fund managers now await guidance from financial supervisors before taking next steps on suspended funds.

The private debt funds market is growing quickly in Europe and there’s more to add, commented a panel at last week’s ALFI Global Distribution Conference. The panellists discussed the attractiveness of this sector in general, particularly to the insurance industry.

Yesterday we saw how Luxembourg is playing a significant role helping international investors gain exposure to the Chinese market. Yet what about the movement in the other direction, as Chinese investors seek to diversify into other markets? This question was explored by a panel of locally-based experts at Luxembourg For Finance’s China Finance Forum 2021.

Despite there being a deal now, Brexit will never be done. Even if the end of the transition period can be navigated with minimal disruption, the lack of an institutional underpinning to the UK-EU relationship points towards decades of negotiation over dozens of policy areas, including financial services. Welcome to long Brexit.

There are less than five months to the first sustainable finance disclosure regulation (SFDR) deadline, and the next is just eight months away. Stéphane Badey, a partner with Arendt & Medernach speaking at the recent LuxFlag Sustainable Investment Week on 14 October, highlighted some of the key concepts.