IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Nicholas Blake-Knox, Jonathan Sheehan, Damien Barnaville and Joe Mitchell, Walkers
those products are made available to investors in the EEA that are not classified as professional investors under MiFID. Irish investment funds are also required to pro - vide financial statements and an annual report on the financial state of the entity to investors. In contrast to the position applicable to an invest - ment company, umbrella ICAVs may publish separate financial statements for each sub-fund. The disclosure and reporting requirements set out in the AIFMD are applicable to Irish AIFs, including the disclosure requirements set out in Article 23 and the reporting requirements set out in Articles 3 and 24 (also known as Annex IV reporting). In addition, the ELTIF Regulation con - tains detailed disclosure requirements in accord - ance with the liquidity profile of the ELTIF, and additional disclosures and conditions are applied where an ELTIF is marketed to retail investors. The Central Bank requires monthly and quarterly returns to be submitted, including details on the gross and net asset value, investor dealing activ - ity, and fees and expenses accrued during the period. A new investment fund return was intro - duced by the Central Bank in December 2024, requiring dealing activity to be reported as at each dealing day of an in-scope Irish investment fund. Ad hoc regulatory reporting is also required in certain circumstances, such as the suspen - sion of an investment fund, material breaches of the investment policy, or material errors in the calculation of the investment fund’s NAV. 2.2 Fund Investment 2.2.1 Types of Investors in Alternative Funds Investors in QIAIFs are not confined to any par - ticular geographic region, and QIAIFs have also proved popular to investors outside of Europe, including in the Americas and Asia. QIAIFs can
be used to invest in a wide range of asset class - es and have proved particularly popular for a variety of hedge fund strategies, amongst oth - ers. The ELTIF is dedicated to facilitating long- term investments in liquid and illiquid assets by both professional and retail investors. As investment in QIAIFs is limited to qualifying investors, a wide variety of institutional investors invest in such funds, such as pension schemes and insurance companies, together with private wealth investment comprising family offices and high net worth individuals. The number of RIAIFs that have been estab - lished is relatively low, with either the UCITS, QIAIF and increasingly the ELTIF being the prod - uct of choice for investors, depending on the investment strategy and target investors. 2.2.2 Legal Structures Used by Fund Managers Entities seeking authorisation as Irish AIFMs in accordance with the AIFMD are typically estab - lished as private companies limited by shares. 2.2.3 Restrictions on Investors Investments in QIAIFs and in qualifying investor ELTIFs can only be made by qualifying inves - tors, which are typically institutional investors or sophisticated high net worth individuals. A separate category of professional investor ELTIF is available solely for distribution to investors who meet the MiFID II “professional client” cri - teria (Professional Investors). Investors who do not meet the criteria applicable to Professional Investors constitute retail investors. Accordingly, as the definition of qualifying investors is broader than the criteria applicable to Professional Inves - tors, ELTIFs established for qualifying investors may also be subject to the requirements in the
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