THE first closed-ended fund to take advantage of Guernsey’s new streamlined registration regime has been completed. Law firm Ogier guided Gottex Fund Management through the fast-tracked process of listing a Guernsey-registered fund on the London Stock Exchange.

Consent from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission can now be obtained within three days of filing the required documents.

The changes, which took effect from the beginning of February, were the first in a series of reforms to be made to the investment funds regime this year.

The listing of Gottex Market Neutral Trust comprised a placing and offer of shares which closed on Friday 23 March, having raised £45m.

The principal feature of the fast-tracked registration is that all due diligence associated with a new fund must now be carried out by its Guernsey licensed administrator, rather than the GFSC.

A certificate is required from the administrator confirming that sufficient due diligence has taken place for it to be satisfied that the associated parties are fit and proper and the administrator must be satisfied as to the integrity, solvency and competence of the promoter.

Advocate Roger Le Tissier and senior associate Andy Lowe advised on the Gottex Fund Management registration.

‘Ogier is well qualified in terms of expertise and location to fully capture the potential benefits of registering funds in Guernsey.

‘We are the first firm to make use of the new regime and this iterates our reputation as a leading adviser on all funds-related business,’ said Advocate Le Tissier.

The series of reforms to fund legislation is the result of a root-and-branch review of the industry’s legal and regulatory framework by a working party led by Advocate Peter Harwood and the recommendations of its subsequent report.

At a presentation to industry professionals in London last month, Advocate Harwood noted that some of the remaining reforms would take longer to implement due to required changes to legislation.

These include the repeal of Control of Borrowing Ordinances, which were introduced in the late 1940s as exchange control measures and have grown by default into regulatory measures.

They will replaced by a prospectus law covering offers of securities by all Guernsey entities and setting out minimum disclosure criteria for offering documents.

A further area of reform will include incorporation of elements of Guernsey’s Protection of Investors Law into a new piece of legislation that will sweep away what is now regarded as an unnecessary distinction between open-ended and closed-ended funds.

Alongside registered funds, which can in future be either open- or closed-ended, it is proposed that Guernsey offer four classes of regulated funds for vehicles aimed at:

* UK distribution

* Non-UK distribution

* Sophisticated and professional investors

* Ucits-compliant structures.

Advocate Harwood said all the reforms should be in place by early next year.