LeX-Ray

Long-term finance is a crucial enabling tool for putting the European economy on a path of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, in accordance with the Europe 2020 strategy, high employment, and competitiveness for building tomorrow's economy in a way that is less prone to systemic risks and is more resilient. European long-term investment funds (ELTIFs) provide finance of lasting duration to various infrastructure projects, unlisted companies, or listed small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that issue equity or debt instruments for which there is no readily identifiable buyer. By providing finance to such projects, ELTIFs contribute to the financing of the Union's real economy and the implementation of its policies.

On the demand side, ELTIFs can provide a steady income stream for pension administrators, insurance companies, foundations, municipalities and other entities that face regular and recurrent liabilities and are seeking long-term returns within well-regulated structures. While providing less liquidity than investments in transferable securities, ELTIFs can provide a steady income stream for individual investors that rely on the regular cash flow that an ELTIF can produce. ELTIFs can also offer good opportunities for capital appreciation over time for those investors not receiving a steady income stream.

Financing for projects such as transport infrastructure, sustainable energy generation or distribution, social infrastructure (housing or hospitals), the roll-out of new technologies and systems that reduce use of resources and energy, or the further growth of SMEs, can be scarce. As the financial crisis has shown, complementing bank financing with a wider variety of financing sources that better mobilise capital markets could help tackle financing gaps. ELTIFs can play a crucial role in this respect, and can also mobilise capital by attracting third-country investors.

The focus of this Regulation is to boost European long-term investments in the real economy. Long- term investments in projects, undertakings, and infrastructure in third countries can also bring capital to ELTIFs and thereby benefit the European economy. Therefore, such investments should not be prevented.

In the absence of a regulation setting out rules on ELTIFs, diverging measures might be adopted at national level, which are likely to cause distortions of competition resulting from differences in investment protection measures. Diverging national requirements on portfolio composition, diversification, and eligible assets, in particular investment in commodities, create obstacles to the cross-border marketing of investment funds that focus on unlisted undertakings and real assets because investors cannot easily compare the different investment propositions offered to them. Diverging national requirements also lead to different levels of investor protection. Furthermore, diverging national requirements pertaining to investment techniques, such as the permitted levels of borrowing, use of financial derivative instruments, rules applicable to short selling or to securities financing transactions, lead to discrepancies in the level of investor protection. In addition, diverging national requirements on redemption or holding periods impede the cross-border selling of funds investing in unlisted assets. By increasing legal uncertainty, those divergences can undermine the confidence of investors when considering investments in such funds and reduce the scope for investors to choose effectively between various long-term investment opportunities. Consequently, the appropriate legal basis for this Regulation is Article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as interpreted by consistent case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Uniform rules are necessary to ensure that ELTIFs display a coherent and stable product profile across the Union. More specifically, in order to ensure the smooth functioning of the internal market and a high level of investor protection, it is necessary to establish uniform rules regarding the operation of ELTIFs, in particular on the composition of their portfolio and the investment instruments that they are allowed to use in order to gain exposure to long-term assets, such as equity or debt instruments issued by listed SMEs and by unlisted undertakings, as well as real assets. Uniform rules on the portfolio of an ELTIF are also required to ensure that ELTIFs that aim to generate regular income maintain a diversified portfolio of investment assets suitable for maintaining a regular cash flow. ELTIFs are a first step towards creating an integrated internal market for raising capital that can be channelled towards long-term investments in the European economy. The smooth functioning of the internal market for long-term investments requires the Commission to continue its assessment of potential barriers that might stand in the way of raising long-term capital across borders, including barriers that arise from the fiscal treatment of such investments.

It is essential to ensure that the rules on the operation of ELTIFs, in particular regarding the composition of their portfolio and the investment instruments that they are allowed to use, be directly applicable to the managers of ELTIFs and, therefore, these new rules need to be adopted as a Regulation. This also ensures uniform conditions for the use of the designation ‘ELTIF’, by preventing the emergence of diverging national requirements. Managers of ELTIFs should follow the same rules across the Union in order to enhance the confidence of investors in ELTIFs and ensure enduring trustworthiness of the ‘ELTIF’ designation. At the same time, by adopting uniform rules, the complexity of the regulatory requirements applicable to ELTIFs is reduced. By means of uniform rules, the managers' cost of compliance with diverging national requirements governing funds that invest in listed and unlisted undertakings and comparable categories of real assets is also reduced. This is especially true for managers of ELTIFs that wish to raise capital on a cross-border basis. The adoption of uniform rules also contributes to the elimination of competitive distortions.

The new rules on ELTIFs are closely linked to AIFMD of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 4 ) , since that Directive forms the legal framework governing the management and marketing of alternative investment funds (AIFs) in the Union. By definition, ELTIFs are EU AIFs that are managed by alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs) authorised in accordance with AIFMD.

Whereas AIFMD also provides for a staged third-country regime governing non-EU AIFMs and non-EU AIFs, the new rules on ELTIFs have a more limited scope emphasising the European dimension of the new long-term investment product. Accordingly, only an EU AIF as defined in AIFMD should be eligible to become an ELTIF and only if it is managed by an EU AIFM that has been authorised in accordance with AIFMD.

The new rules applicable to ELTIFs should build on the existing regulatory framework established by AIFMD and the acts adopted for its implementation. Therefore, the product rules concerning ELTIFs should apply in addition to the rules laid down in existing Union law. In particular, the management and marketing rules laid down in AIFMD should apply to ELTIFs. Equally, the rules on the cross-border provision of services and freedom of establishment laid down in AIFMD should apply correspondingly to the cross-border activities of ELTIFs. These should be supplemented by specific marketing rules designed for the cross-border marketing of ELTIFs to both retail and professional investors across the Union.

Uniform rules should apply to all EU AIFs that wish to market themselves as ELTIFs. EU AIFs that do not wish to market themselves as ELTIFs should not be bound by these rules, thereby also accepting that they do not benefit from the advantages that ensue. Undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) and non-EU AIFs should not be eligible for marketing as ELTIFs.

In order to ensure the compliance of ELTIFs with the harmonised rules governing the activity of these funds, it is necessary to require competent authorities to authorise ELTIFs. The harmonised authorisation and supervision procedures for AIFMs under AIFMD should therefore be supplemented with a special authorisation procedure for ELTIFs. Procedures should be put in place to ensure that only EU AIFMs authorised in accordance with AIFMD and capable of managing an ELTIF may manage ELTIFs. All appropriate steps should be taken to ensure that an ELTIF will be able to comply with the harmonised rules governing the activity of these funds. A specific authorisation procedure should apply where the ELTIF is internally managed and no external AIFM is appointed.

Given that EU AIFs may take different legal forms that do not necessarily endow them with legal personality, the provisions requiring ELTIFs to take action should be understood to refer to the manager of the ELTIF in cases where the ELTIF is constituted as an EU AIF that is not in a position to act by itself because it has no legal personality of its own.

In order to ensure that ELTIFs target long-term investments and contribute to the financing of a sustainable growth of the Union's economy, rules on the portfolio of ELTIFs should require the clear identification of the categories of assets that are eligible for investment by ELTIFs, and of the conditions under which they should be eligible. An ELTIF should invest at least 70 % of its capital in eligible investment assets. In order to ensure the integrity of ELTIFs, it is also desirable to prohibit an ELTIF from engaging in certain financial transactions that might endanger its investment strategy and objectives by giving rise to risks that are different from those that might be expected for a fund targeting long-term investments. In order to ensure a clear focus on long-term investments, as may be useful for retail investors unfamiliar with less conventional investment strategies, an ELTIF should not be allowed to invest in financial derivative instruments other than for the purpose of hedging the risks inherent to its own investments. Given the liquid nature of commodities and the financial derivative instruments that give an indirect exposure to them, investments in commodities do not require a long-term investor commitment and therefore should be excluded from eligible investment assets. That rationale does not apply to investments in infrastructure or companies related to commodities or whose performance is linked indirectly to the performance of commodities, such as farms in the case of agricultural commodities or power plants in the case of energy commodities.

The definition of what constitutes a long-term investment is broad. Eligible investment assets are generally illiquid, require commitments for a certain period of time, and have an economic profile of a long-term nature. Eligible investment assets are non-transferable securities and therefore do not have access to the liquidity of secondary markets. They often require fixed term commitments which restrict their marketability. Nevertheless, as listed SMEs may face problems of liquidity and access to the secondary market, they should also be considered to be qualifying portfolio undertakings. The economic cycle of the investment sought by ELTIFs is essentially of a long-term nature due to the high capital commitments and the length of time required to produce returns.

An ELTIF should be allowed to invest in assets other than eligible investment assets as may be necessary to manage its cash flow efficiently, but only so long as this is consistent with the ELTIF's long-term investment strategy.

Eligible investment assets should be understood to include participations, such as equity or quasi-equity instruments, debt instruments in qualifying portfolio undertakings, and loans provided to them. They should also include participations in other funds that are focused on assets, such as investments in unlisted undertakings that issue equity or debt instruments for which there is not always a readily identifiable buyer. Direct holdings of real assets, unless they are securitised, should also form a category of eligible assets, provided that they yield a predictable cash flow, whether regular or irregular, in the sense that they can be modelled and valued based on a discounted cash flow valuation method. Those assets could indicatively include social infrastructure that yields a predictable return, such as energy, transport and communication infrastructure, as well as education, health, welfare support or industrial facilities. Conversely, assets such as works of art, manuscripts, wine stocks or jewellery should not be eligible as they do not normally yield a predictable cash flow.

Eligible investment assets should include real assets with a value of more than EUR 10 000 000 that generate an economic and social benefit. Such assets include infrastructure, intellectual property, vessels, equipment, machinery, aircraft or rolling stock, and immovable property. Investments in commercial property or housing should be permitted to the extent that they serve the purpose of contributing to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth or to the Union's energy, regional and cohesion policies. Investments in such immovable property should be clearly documented so as to demonstrate the long-term commitment in the property. This Regulation is not seeking to promote speculative investments.

The scale of infrastructure projects means that they require large amounts of capital to remain invested for long periods of time. Such infrastructure projects include public building infrastructure such as schools, hospitals or prisons, social infrastructure such as social housing, transport infrastructure such as roads, mass transit systems or airports, energy infrastructure such as energy grids, climate adaptation and mitigation projects, power plants or pipelines, water management infrastructure such as water supply systems, sewage or irrigation systems, communication infrastructure such as networks, and waste management infrastructure such as recycling or collection systems.

Quasi-equity instruments should be understood to comprise a type of financing instrument which is a combination of equity and debt, where the return on the instrument is linked to the profit or loss of the qualifying portfolio undertaking and where the repayment of the instrument in the event of default is not fully secured. Such instruments include a variety of financing instruments such as subordinated loans, silent participations, participating loans, profit participating rights, convertible bonds and bonds with warrants.

To reflect existing business practices, an ELTIF should be allowed to buy existing shares of a qualifying portfolio undertaking from existing shareholders of that undertaking. In addition, for the purposes of ensuring the widest possible opportunities for fundraising, investments in other ELTIFs, European Venture Capital Funds (EuVECAs), regulated by EVCFTERR of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 5 ) , and European Social Entrepreneurship Funds (EuSEFs), regulated by ESEFTERR of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 6 ) , should be permitted. To prevent dilution of the investments in qualifying portfolio undertakings, ELTIFs should only be permitted to invest in other ELTIFs, EuVECAs, and EuSEFs provided that they have not themselves invested more than 10 % of their capital in other ELTIFs.

The use of financial undertakings may be necessary in order to pool and organise the contributions of different investors, including investments of a public nature, in infrastructure projects. ELTIFs should therefore be permitted to invest in eligible investment assets by means of financial undertakings, so long as these undertakings are dedicated to financing long-term projects, as well as the growth of SMEs.

Unlisted undertakings can face difficulties accessing capital markets and financing further growth and expansion. Private financing through equity stakes or loans are typical ways of raising financing. Because such instruments are by their nature long-term investments, they require patient capital which ELTIFs can provide. Moreover, listed SMEs often face significant obstacles in acquiring long-term financing and ELTIFs may provide valuable alternative sources of funding.

Categories of long-term assets within the meaning of this Regulation should therefore comprise unlisted undertakings that issue equity or debt instruments for which there might not be a readily identifiable buyer, and listed undertakings with a maximum capitalisation of EUR 500 000 000.

Where the manager of an ELTIF holds a stake in a portfolio undertaking, there is a risk that the manager puts its own interests ahead of the interests of investors in the ELTIF. To avoid such a conflict of interests, and to ensure sound corporate governance, an ELTIF should only invest in assets that are unrelated to the manager of the ELTIF, unless the ELTIF invests in units or shares of other ELTIFs, EuVECAs, or EuSEFs that are managed by the manager of the ELTIF.

In order to allow managers of ELTIFs a certain degree of flexibility in the investment of their funds, trading in assets other than long-term investments should be permitted up to a maximum threshold of 30 % of the capital of the ELTIF.

In order to limit risk-taking by ELTIFs, it is essential to reduce counterparty risk by subjecting the portfolio of ELTIFs to clear diversification requirements. All over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives should be subject to OTC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 7 ) .

In order to prevent the exercise of significant influence by an investing ELTIF over the management of another ELTIF or of an issuing body, it is necessary to avoid excessive concentration by an ELTIF in the same investment.

In order to allow managers of ELTIFs to raise further capital during the life of the fund, they should be permitted to borrow cash amounting to up to 30 % of the value of the capital of the ELTIF. That should serve to provide additional return to the investors. In order to eliminate the risk of currency mismatches, the ELTIF should borrow only in the currency in which the manager of the ELTIF expects to acquire the asset. In order to address concerns related to shadow banking activities, the cash borrowed by the ELTIF should not be used for granting loans to qualifying portfolio undertakings.

Due to the long-term and illiquid nature of the investments of an ELTIF, the manager of the ELTIF should have sufficient time to apply the investment limits. The time required to implement these limits should take account of the particular features and characteristics of the investments but should not exceed five years after the date of the authorisation as an ELTIF or half the life of the ELTIF, whichever is the earlier.

ELTIFs, on account of their portfolio profile and their focus on categories of long-term assets, are designed to channel private savings toward the European economy. ELTIFs are also conceived as an investment vehicle through which the European Investment Bank (the EIB) Group can channel its European infrastructure or SME financing. By virtue of this Regulation, ELTIFs are structured as a pooled investment vehicle that responds to the EIB Group's focus on contributing to a balanced and steady development of an internal market for long-term investments in the interest of the Union. Given their focus on categories of long-term assets, ELTIFs can fulfil their designated role as a priority tool to accomplish the Investment Plan for Europe set out in the Commission communication of 26 November 2014.

The Commission should prioritise and streamline its processes for all applications by ELTIFs for financing from the EIB. The Commission should therefore streamline the delivery of any opinions or contributions on any applications by ELTIFs for financing from the EIB.

Moreover, Member States, as well as regional and local authorities, may have an interest in making potential investors and the public aware of ELTIFs.

Notwithstanding the fact that an ELTIF is not required to offer redemption rights before the end of its life, nothing should prevent an ELTIF from seeking admission of its units or shares to a regulated market or to a multilateral trading facility, thus providing investors with an opportunity to sell their units or shares before the end of the life of the ELTIF. The rules or instruments of incorporation of an ELTIF should not prevent units or shares of the ELTIF being admitted to trading on a regulated market or on a multilateral trading facility, nor should they prevent investors from freely transferring their units or shares to third parties who wish to purchase those units or shares. This is intended to promote secondary markets as an important venue for retail investors for buying and selling units or shares of ELTIFs.

While individual investors may be interested in investing in an ELTIF, the illiquid nature of most investments in long-term projects precludes an ELTIF from offering regular redemptions to its investors. The commitment of the individual investor to an investment in such assets is, by its nature, made to the full term of the investment. ELTIFs should, consequently, be structured in principle so as not to offer regular redemptions before the end of the life of the ELTIF.

In order to incentivise investors, in particular retail investors, who might not be willing to lock their capital up for a long period of time, an ELTIF should be able to offer, under certain conditions, early redemption rights to its investors. Therefore, the manager of the ELTIF should be given discretion to decide whether to establish ELTIFs with or without redemption rights, according to the ELTIF's investment strategy. When a redemption rights regime is in place, those rights and their main features should be clearly predefined and disclosed in the rules or instruments of incorporation of the ELTIF.

In order for investors to redeem effectively their units or shares at the end of the ELTIF's life, the manager of the ELTIF should start to sell the portfolio of assets of the ELTIF in good time to ensure that its value is properly realised. In determining an orderly disinvestment schedule, the manager of the ELTIF should take into account the different maturity profiles of the investments and the length of time necessary to find a buyer for the assets in which the ELTIF is invested. Due to the impracticality of maintaining the investment limits during this liquidation period, they should cease to apply when the liquidation period starts.

In order to broaden retail investors' access to ELTIFs, a UCITS is able to invest in units or shares issued by an ELTIF to the extent that the ELTIF's units or shares are eligible under UCITS of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 8 ) .

It should be possible for an ELTIF to reduce its capital on a pro rata basis in the event that it has divested itself of one of its assets, in particular in the case of an infrastructure investment.

The unlisted assets in which an ELTIF has invested may obtain a listing on a regulated market during the life of the fund. Where that happens, the assets may no longer comply with the non-listing requirement of this Regulation. In order to allow the manager of the ELTIF to disinvest in an orderly manner from such assets that would no longer be eligible, the assets could continue to count towards the 70 % limit of eligible investment assets for up to three years.

Given the specific characteristics of ELTIFs, as well as of the retail and professional investors they target, it is important that sound transparency requirements be put in place that are capable of allowing prospective investors to make an informed judgement and be fully aware of the risks involved. In addition to complying with the transparency requirements contained in AIFMD, ELTIFs should publish a prospectus the content of which should include all information required to be disclosed by collective investment undertakings of the closed-end type in accordance with Directive 2003/71 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 9 ) and Commission Regulation 2004/809 ( 10 ) . When marketing an ELTIF to retail investors, it should be mandatory to publish a key information document in accordance with Regulation 2014/1286 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 11 ) . Furthermore, any marketing documents should explicitly draw attention to the risk profile of the ELTIF.

ELTIFs may be attractive to investors, such as municipalities, churches, charities and foundations, which should be able to request to be treated as professional clients in circumstances where they meet the conditions of Section II of Annex II of MIFID of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 12 ) .

As ELTIFs target not only professional but also retail investors across the Union, it is necessary that certain additional requirements be added to the marketing requirements already laid down in AIFMD, in order to ensure an appropriate degree of retail investor protection. Accordingly, facilities should be made available for making subscriptions, making payments to unit- or shareholders, repurchasing or redeeming units or shares, and making available the information which the ELTIF and the manager of the ELTIF are required to provide. Moreover, in order to ensure that retail investors are not at a disadvantage relative to professional investors, certain safeguards should be put in place when ELTIFs are marketed to retail investors. In the event that the marketing or placing of ELTIFs to retail investors is done through a distributor, such distributor should comply with the relevant requirements of MIFID and MIFIR of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 13 ) .

The manager of the ELTIF or the distributor should obtain all necessary information regarding the retail investor's knowledge and experience, financial situation, risk appetite, investment objectives and time horizon in order to assess whether the ELTIF is suitable for marketing to that retail investor, taking into account, inter alia, the life and the intended investment strategy of the ELTIF. In addition, where the life of an ELTIF that is offered or placed to retail investors exceeds 10 years, the manager of the ELTIF or the distributor should indicate clearly and in written form that this product may not be suitable for those retail investors unable to sustain such a long-term and illiquid commitment.

When an ELTIF is marketed to retail investors, the depositary of the ELTIF should comply with the provisions of UCITS as regards the eligible entities that are permitted to act as depositaries, the ‘no discharge of liability’ rule, and the reuse of assets.

With a view to strengthening the protection of retail investors, this Regulation in addition provides that for retail investors whose portfolio, composed of cash deposits and financial instruments excluding any financial instruments that have been given as collateral, does not exceed EUR 500 000, the manager of the ELTIF or any distributor, after having performed a suitability test and having provided appropriate investment advice, should ensure that the retail investor does not invest an aggregate amount exceeding 10 % of the investor's portfolio in ELTIFs and the initial amount invested in one or more ELTIFs is not less than EUR 10 000.

Under exceptional circumstances specified in the rules or instruments of incorporation of an ELTIF, the life of the ELTIF could be extended or reduced to allow for more flexibility where, for instance, a project is completed later or earlier than expected, in order to bring it into line with its long-term investment strategy.

The competent authority of the ELTIF should verify on an on-going basis whether an ELTIF complies with this Regulation. As the competent authorities are already provided with extensive powers under AIFMD, it is necessary to extend those powers having regard to this Regulation.

The European Supervisory Authority (European Securities and Markets Authority) (ESMA), established by ESAESMAR of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 14 ) , should be able to exercise all the powers conferred on it under AIFMD with respect to this Regulation and should be provided with all resources necessary for that purpose, in particular human resources.

ESMA should play a central role in the application of the rules concerning ELTIFs, by ensuring consistent application of Union rules by national competent authorities. As a body with highly specialised expertise regarding securities and securities markets, it is efficient and appropriate to entrust ESMA with the drawing up of draft regulatory technical standards which do not involve policy choices for submission to the Commission. These regulatory technical standards should concern the circumstances in which the use of financial derivative instruments solely serves the purpose of hedging the risks inherent to the investments, the circumstances in which the life of an ELTIF will be sufficient in length to cover the life-cycle of each of the individual assets of the ELTIF, the features of the schedule for the orderly disposal of ELTIF assets, the definitions of, and calculation methodologies for costs borne by investors, presentation of cost disclosures, and the characteristics of the facilities to be set up by ELTIFs in each Member State where they intend to market units or shares.

Directive 1995/46 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 15 ) and Regulation 2001/45 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 16 ) should be fully applicable to the exchange, transmission and processing of personal data for the purposes of this Regulation.

Since the objectives of this Regulation, namely to ensure uniform requirements on the investments and operating conditions for ELTIFs throughout the Union, while taking full account of the need to balance safety and reliability of ELTIFs with the efficient operation of the market for long-term financing and the cost for its various stakeholders, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of their scale and effects, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

This Regulation respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and notably consumer protection, the freedom to conduct a business, the right to remedy and to a fair trial, and the protection of personal data as well as access to services of general economic interest. This Regulation has to be applied in accordance with those rights and principles,