LUXEMBOURG Trends and Developments Contributed by: Marcus Peter and Marie-Thérèse Wich, GSK Stockmann SA
Private equity investments in Luxembourg firms and by Luxembourg private equity firms While many private equity firms that have moved to Luxembourg appreciate its advantages, it is also noteworthy that private equity investments into Lux - embourg-based target groups, or by private equity Luxembourg companies into other companies, take place from time to time. Despite the reduction in deal flow, major Luxembourg deals have been seen In February 2025, IQ-EQ, a leading global investor service provider headquartered in Luxembourg and owned by the private equity company Astorg, com - pleted the acquisition of Agama, a French-Luxem - bourg specialist in regulatory compliance and advi - sory services for financial institutions. This move strengthens IQ-EQ’s European regulatory offering and broadens its integrated compliance capabilities. The European private equity firm Blackfin Capital Part - ners, which focuses on financial services investments within Europe, has acquired Lemanik Asset Manage - ment, a Luxembourg-based third-party management company and AIFM that manages EUR30 million of assets. The transaction was approved by the CSSF and finalised in February 2025. Temenos AG, a Swiss banking software company, announced in February 2025 that it had signed an agreement to sell Multifonds, its fund administration software business, to Montagu Private Equity, a lead - ing European private equity firm, for about USD400 million, including an earn-out. Multifonds has been part of Temenos since 2015 and is one of the few lead - ing pure-play software companies in the space, with broad coverage of jurisdictions across the Asia–Pacif - ic (APAC), Europe and Latin America. The company is headquartered in Luxembourg, with a presence in 15 other countries. In March 2025, AnaCap Financial Partners, a London- based private equity investor specialising in partnering with founders and entrepreneurial management teams focused on financial services, acquired a majority stake of Fiduciaire Jean Marc Faber, a Luxembourg- based provider of trust, fund and fiduciary services. Fiduciare Jean Marc-Faber has 70 employees and
ronment where English has become the predominant working language in the financial industry. Investors and market players have a diverse choice of service providers with particular expertise in private equity structuring, transaction advice, funds administration and depositary and audit services. Corporate docu - ments and fund documentation can be prepared in English, German or French. Other benefits of Luxembourg Another advantage of Luxembourg is the European passport. Luxembourg AIFMs can manage Luxem - bourg funds as well as AIFs established in other EU countries. Therefore, several UK entities transferred their headquarters or offices to Luxembourg during Brexit (like M&G Investments) in order to retain the benefit of the European passporting regime. During the last few years, and especially due to Brexit, sev - eral large private equity firms have opened an office in Luxembourg or even established their headquarters there. This has typically been followed by the mov - ing of private equity funds to Luxembourg and/or the launching of new fund structures in line with Luxem - bourg fund types. In total, 18 of the 20 largest private equity houses have operations in Luxembourg, and 63% of Luxembourg private equity firms also hold an AIFM licence in the country. Luxembourg boasts a stable political and economic situation and has retained its triple-A rating. Investors and firms also benefit from a flexible and attractive tax regime that complies with EU regulations and direc - tives. Private Equity/Investment via Luxembourg Structures Private equity target acquisitions are also carried out via Luxembourg structures. Here, the advantage is that Luxembourg service providers are experienced in the structuring of private equity investments. The laws and the applicable tax regime can also favour such transactions. Nowadays, market private equity firms prefer to have the entire private equity acquisi - tion structure in Luxembourg, as opposed to it being distributed over several countries, to avoid any influ - ence of European supervisory mechanisms.
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