Agefi Luxembourg - septembre 2026

Septembre 2026 3 AGEFI Luxembourg Économie & Banques Continued page 1 Firstly, the new structuring option only applies to partnership structures of the SCS or SCSp type – extending this to other corporate types such as the public limited company (SA) would have made the entire project much more com­ plicated due to taxation issues. Secondly, the relevant partnership needs to qualify as an AIF and can­ not be a simple special purpose ve­ hicle. Thirdly, only AIFs managed by a fully licensed AIFM can opt for a compartment structure. The so­ called subthreshold AIFMs, often used for projects with lower amounts of assets under management (who would probably need it evenmore), cannot make use of this possibility. What are the most likely use cases for the new structuring option? Currently, the only real option for using an um­ brella structure with compartments is using a RAIF. There are, however, some aspects of the RAIF’s rulebook that are not a good fit in certain situations: The obligation for risk diversification (which is not prescribed by the AIFMDirective), a minimum capitalisation, the payment of a sub­ scription tax or its establishment formalities, to name a few. An example of a scenario in which the lighter and more flexible regime of the SCS/SCSp partnershipswill be preferable is coinvestments into one (or very few) assets or deals alongside the main fund structure, which are becoming more and more prevalent. Hence, these could be shifted into compartments of the main fund, instead of having to establish individual part­ nership structures for each such opportunity. Another example in this context are parallel funds or feeder funds that have so far been set up as single partnerships each (to replicate U.S. or UK terms of their main fund structure). These could be integrated into different compartments, just as potentially also continuation vehicles that extricate certain assets from one or more existing funds (or, in future, compartments). Furthermore, different vintages (successor funds) of the same strategy could be aggregated into one single structure, without losing the synchronicity with the U.S. or UK partnerships that serve as blueprint. Currently, each of these is typically es­ tablished as its own partnership, which is not the last word in cost or time efficiency. Lastly, scenarios where very specific investment allocationmandates are in play, such as for family offices, wealth managers in general or also insti­ tutional investors, and which do not fit into the more rigid RAIF framework, could find a more flexible structure using compartments of an SCSp. While it is likely that foremost AngloSaxon fund initiators will benefit from the contemplated draft bill of law, as they have the strongest preference for using partnership structures in the first place, most of the aforementioned scenarios will also increase the structuring choices for any other fund sponsor. Any disadvantages or risks from using the new structuring option? It should be kept inmind that the use of umbrella structures with compartments also takes some choices away, while offering others. Some examples of these are the following consid­ erations: Appointing a new depositary bank, cen­ tral administration or AIFM for the new vintage fund is not possible in a compartment structure where these service providers need to be identical. Also, for governance or control reasons it can sometimes be preferable to have a separate legal entity, which a compartment is not. Furthermore, structuring an investment fund out­ side of a partnership (such as a public limited com­ pany, or an FCP) still requires a RAIF structure in most cases due to tax considerations. Another as­ pect is that it can be undesirable to be obliged to share, in the annual report for an umbrella struc­ ture, information about all compartments, which would be mandatory. Finally, beyond a certain number of compartments, their administration also becomes increasingly complex and changes to the general structure of theAIF difficult. Final words The contemplated change to the regime of Lux­ embourg AIFs is a very welcome addition to the structuring “toolbox”, as it is often referred to. It closes a gap that could only be explained by his­ torical inertia, and should make it easier for fund sponsors choosing Luxembourg as a domicile for investment fund products to find a solution that is structurally sound and in line with their needs. As compartment structures have existed for over 40 years now, there should not be any administra­ tive or operational challenges for the parties and service providers involved in these projects. The draft bill of law still needs to go through the usual legislative process, but as this proposal should be neither controversial nor contain nov­ elties of unknown proportions, it is hoped that it will become applicable in the later part of this year. Dr. Marcel BARTNIK, Partner – Avocat à la Cour, Dupont Partners 1) https://www.chd.lu/fr/dossier/8814 2) Securitisation structures also offer the possibility of establish­ ing compartments, even though they are, strictly speaking, not in­ vestment funds. 3) Law of 12 July 2013 on alternative investment fund managers. Luxembourg expands its fund structuring toolbox L L.AA.RR . leGrandDuc Guillaume et laGrandeDu­ chesse Stéphanie se sont ren­ dus les 1 er et 2 septembre dans le Tyrol à l’occasionde la 22 e rencon­ tre informelle des chefs d’État des pays germanophones. Organisé à l’invitationduprésident fédéral au­ trichienAlexanderVander Bellen, le rendezvous a réuni les représen­ tants de l’Allemagne, de l’Autriche, de laBelgique, duLiechtenstein, duLuxembourg et de la Suisse. Le GrandDuc a ainsi retrouvé le roi Philippe de Belgique, le président fédéral allemandFrankWalterSteinmeier,lepré­ sident fédéral autrichien Alexander Van der Bellen, le président de la Confédé­ ration suisse Guy Parmelin ainsi que le prince héréditaireAlois de Liechtenstein. Cette rencontre constitueunmoment pri­ vilégiépourlessixdirigeants,quipeuvent échangerdansuncadremoinsformelque celui des sommets internationaux tradi­ tionnels. Les discussions ont notamment porté sur les grandes évolutions européennes et internationales, ainsi que sur les défis politiques, économiques et sociétaux auxquels les différents pays sont confrontés. La cohésion européenne et les perspectives d’avenir du continent figuraient parmi les thèmes importants de ces échanges. La présidence autrichienne avait égale­ mentchoisidedonnerunedimensionpar­ ticulière auprogramme en emmenant les délégations dans lesmontagnes duTyrol. Les chefs d’État se sont rendus dans la région du glacier de Stubai et ont rejoint la plateforme panoramique du Top of Tyrol, située à plus de 3.200mètres d’al­ titude. Audelà de la découverte du paysage alpin, cette étape a permis d’évoquer les conséquences du changement clima­ tique. Le recul des glaciers constitue en effet l’un des signes les plus visibles du réchauffement et rappelle l’ampleur des transformations auxquelles sont confrontés les territoires européens. Le programme s’est ensuite poursuivi à Alpbach, où se tenait parallèlement le European Forum Alpbach. L’avenir de l’Europe constituait également l’un des grands thèmes de cette édition, offrant unprolongement aux discussions enga­ gées entre les chefs d’État. Le GrandDuc et ses homologues ont participé àunéchange consacré auxdéfis auxquels le continent devra répondre dans les prochaines années. Une rencon­ tre avec de jeunes participants du forum était également organisée. Ces derniers ont pu présenter leur vision de l’Europe et faire part de leurs préoccupations, notamment sur le climat, la démocratie et les perspectives économiques. Un format fondé sur le dialogue Depuis 2004, les six pays germano­ phones organisent à tour de rôle cette rencontre annuelle. Son caractère infor­ mel permet auxdirigeants de confronter leurs points de vue et de maintenir un dialogue régulier, sans nécessairement rechercher l’adoption de décisions com­ munes. Ce format prend une résonance particulière dans une Europe confrontée à de nombreux bouleversements. Les questions de sécurité, de transition énergétique, de climat, d’économie et de cohésion sociale dépassent désor­ mais largement les frontières natio­ nales et nécessitent une coopération étroite entre les États. Pour le Luxembourg, cette édition aura permis au GrandDuc de renforcer les échanges avec ses homologues et de prendre part à un rendezvous qui occupe une place particulière dans les relations entre les six pays. Elle aura également mis en avant plusieurs préoccupations communes, de l’avenir du projet européen aux défis environ­ nementaux et aux attentes de la jeune génération. Entre Innsbruck, le glacier de Stubai et Alpbach, ces deux journées auront ainsi mêlé diplomatie, réflexion européenne et échanges intergénérationnels, dans un cadre destiné avant tout à favoriser le dialogue entre les dirigeants. Source : Maison duGrandDuc S.A.R. le GrandDuc Guillaume au sommet des pays germanophones en Autriche L’Europe au sommet, entre dialogue et grands défis ©MaisonduGrandDuc Adaptive thinking