BNY Mellon is, for the first time, providing depository and related services in Germany for closed alternative investment funds investing in property, agriculture, private equity and renewable energies.
The bank has been appointed as depository for a proportion of the alternative investment holdings of Alceda Asset Management GmbH in Germany and Alceda Fund Management S.A. in Luxembourg.
The mandate also covers assets held in alternative investment funds issued by Aquila Capital, an investment company for alternative investments and investments in real assets. Both Aquila Capital and Alceda are part of the Aquila Group.
In addition, BNY Mellon and Alceda Asset Management GmbH (as the designated portfolio management company on behalf of Aquila Capital in Germany) will work together to establish the first agricultural fund issued under the terms of the new legislation. Further funds are already in the planning stage.
Following the implementation in Germany of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers' Directive (AIFMD) and the new Capital Investment Act (Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch—KAGB) on 22 July 2013, closed-end funds, which were previously unregulated, have to be managed by capital investment companies regulated by the BaFin, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority.
Assets belonging to closed alternative investment funds (AIFs) are now required to be held by a depository, usually a custodian bank.
Michael Sanders, chairman of the board of Alceda Fund Management S.A., said that the new statutory regulations in Germany have placed an ever-greater focus on transparency and investor protection.
