M&G Investments, a leading international asset manager, has announced that it is seeking permission from the Luxembourg authorities to launch a new SICAV (Société d’Investissement à Capital Variable) for retail investors outside the UK.
If approved by the CSSF (Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier), M&G hopes initially to offer two sub-funds by the end of the year. The sub-funds are new investment strategies rather than replications of existing funds.
Grant Speirs, M&G’s Group Finance Director, said this is a prudent move in light of June’s referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union and that a Luxembourg retail SICAV platform will enable M&G to offer fund strategies to European retail investors if the UK loses financial services passporting rights in several years’ time as a result of its exit from the EU.
The 10 October announcement by M&G underlines how Luxembourg acts as primary gateway into the European Union for financial institutions and service providers and how the country is fully committed to continue to work closely with its UK partners. Luxembourg benefits from a unique cross-border ecosystem of financial service providers and a long-standing expertise in distributing services and products under the EU passport regime and the freedom to provide services. With €567.22 billion assets under management, UK fund promoters represent a 16.5% market share of net assets under management in the Luxembourg fund industry (the 2nd largest group after US fund promoters).
