AUSTRALIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Andrew Stone, Dhanushka Jayawardena, Andrew Choi and Chris Kinsella, Holding Redlich
Holding Redlich Level 65 25 Martin Place Sydney NSW 2000 Australia Tel: +61 2 8083 0388 Email: inquiries@holdingredlich.com Web: www.holdingredlich.com
1. General 1.1 General Overview of Jurisdiction
withholding tax rates for eligible foreign investors and capital treatment certainty for domestic investors. However, several factors influence the jurisdiction’s attractiveness. Increased scrutiny by the Australian Taxation Office of structures and variations in state- based stamp duties across jurisdictions can materi - ally impact the design of structures and transaction costs, particularly for real estate and infrastructure investments. Victoria’s additional property taxes have reduced its appeal for real estate-focused strategies. 1.2 Key Trends Although the key elements of Australia’s regulatory regime for alternative funds have been in place for more than 20 years, regulatory proposals during 2025 indicate the regime is under refinement. Substantial growth in Australian superannuation funds has also contributed to changes within the Australian capital markets ecosystem, with implications for the alterna - tive funds sector. In early 2025, the Australian Securities and Invest - ments Commission (ASIC) released a discussion paper on the dynamics between Australia’s public and private markets to gather actionable ideas on regulation that could enhance the operation of these markets. The context of the discussion paper was a perception that public markets are not perform - ing as a mechanism of allocating capital efficiently, thus potentially stifling economic growth. ASIC has sought industry feedback and is expected to provide an update in November 2025 (as of 2 October 2025). Tax regulation is tightening as policymakers seek to balance Australia’s competitiveness against an ero -
Australia is an attractive location for alternative funds, managers and investors, with deep capital pools, a skilled financial services workforce and a stable legal and geopolitical environment. For fund sponsors, Australia offers potential expo - sure to the AUD4 trillion superannuation system (as at March 2025) and to significant capital sources via wealth management channels. The 2025 UBS Global Wealth Report ranks Australians as the second wealth - iest in the world, with median wealth of approximately USD270,000 per adult – second only to Luxembourg. In this regard, the wealth of Australians is supported by very high residential property prices. For managers, Australia offers a deep pool of well- trained investment professionals and associated service providers, including fund administrators. For investors, Australia offers a stable geopolitical envi - ronment supported by a transparent legal system. Although relatively small by global standards, the Aus - tralian market presents strong potential for sustained economic growth through an immigration per head of population at a rate that is approximately double that of the UK and the USA, triple that of Germany, and five times that of France. On the tax front, Australia offers a competitive envi - ronment for alternative funds through its attribution managed investment trust (AMIT), managed invest - ment trust (MIT), and corporate collective investment vehicle (CCIV) regimes, which provide concessional
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