GUERNSEY Law and Practice Contributed by: Matthew Brehaut, Carey Olsen
• governments, local authorities or public authorities (in the Bailiwick or elsewhere); • trustees of trusts which, at the time of invest - ment, have net assets in excess of GBP2 million (or currency equivalent); • a body corporate or limited partnership, if it or any holding company or subsidiary of it has, at the time of investment, net assets in excess of GBP2 million (or currency equiva - lent); or • an individual who has, together with any spouse, at the time of investment, a minimum net worth (which excludes that individual’s main residence and household goods) of GBP500,000 (or currency equivalent). QIFs Admission is limited to qualifying investors, which are defined as professional investors, experienced investors and knowledgeable employees. A professional investor is: • a government, local authority, public author - ity or supra-national body (in the Bailiwick or elsewhere); • a person, partnership or other unincorpo - rated association or body corporate, (whether incorporated, listed or regulated in an OECD country or otherwise) whose ordinary busi - ness or professional activity includes, or it is reasonable to expect that it includes, acquir - ing, underwriting, managing, holding or dis - posing of investments whether as principal or agent, or the giving of advice on investments; • an affiliate of the QIF or an associate of an affiliate of the QIF (the terms “affiliate” and “associate of an affiliate” are intended to refer to financial services businesses or financial services professionals associated, directly
or indirectly, with the operation of the fund in question); or • an individual investor who makes an initial investment of not less than USD100,000 or equivalent in the fund in question – provided the initial test has been met, subsequent investments by the same investor may be of lower amounts. An experienced investor is a person, partner - ship or other unincorporated association or body corporate which has in any period of 12 months (whether on their own behalf or in the course of their employment by another person) frequently entered into transactions of a particular type in connection with: • open-ended and closed-ended collective investment schemes; and/or • general securities and derivatives as defined in Schedule 1 of the POI Law (in summary, that definition includes equities, bonds, war - rants, options, futures, contracts for differenc - es and rights on any of those investments). This means transactions of substantial size entered into with, or through the agency of, rep - utable persons who carry on investment busi - ness, where they can reasonably be expected to understand the nature of, and the risks involved in, transactions of that description. Alternatively, it means persons who provide a certificate from an appropriately qualified investment adviser confirming that the investor has obtained inde - pendent advice. A knowledgeable employee is: • a person who is (or has been within a period of three years up to the date of application for investment in the QIF) an employee, director, general partner, consultant or shareholder
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