GLOBAL - The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), which represents the global hedge fund industry, is planning to lead members in opposition to certain provisions in the European Commission's draft directive for alternative investment fund managers.
The organisation will campaign to get these provisions rewritten as a realistic alternative to trying to get the directive withdrawn.
AIMA will consult its members and the hedge fund industry as a whole before formally drawing up its suggested revisions to the directive.
However, it is understood that concerns include the three year delay in the directive for creating a passport for non-EU funds, making it difficult for non-EU funds to be marketed within the EU during that period.
AIMA has a number of members in the US and Asia. But it is thought the provision requiring prime brokers to be based in the same jurisdiction as the fund itself could also create problems for offshore funds.
The draft directive also includes the concept of leverage caps which might set a precedent for introducing caps on leverage levels within funds.
AIMA said its consultation would continue for some time. Besides initiating an industry response, however, it hopes to achieve changes in the directive through discussions with the European Commission.
Andrew Baker, chief executive, AIMA, said: "We want to work with the Commission, EU governments and the European Parliament on this. We are not opposed to the directive as such, we just want the final version to be practical and realistic."
It was suggested earlier this week that any ‘passporting' of hedge fund and private equity managers, should it go ahead, could take as much as five years to actually deliver some form of gain. (See earlier IPE story: EU hedge fund passports will take five years to deliver benefits)
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