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Regulation of Alternative Investment Funds

What is an Alternative Investment Fund (AIF)

AIF is a privately pooled investment vehicle under the Alternative Investment Fund Regulations that raises funds from investors, whether Indian or foreign, to invest in accordance with a defined investment policy for the benefit of its investors. The AIF can take the form of a trust, partnership, limited liability company, or legal entity.

Why IDA?

The IDA Regulations seek to extend the regulatory perimeter to unregulated funds with a view to ensuring systemic stability, increasing market efficiency, fostering new capital formation, and consumer protection.

Who are not covered

Currently, the IDA Regulations do not apply to mutual funds, collective investment schemes, family trusts, ESOPs and other employee welfare funds, holding companies, special purpose vehicles, funds managed by securitization or reconstruction companies, and any group of funds that is directly regulated. by any other regulator in India.

FIA Categories

An AIF must apply for registration broadly in one of 3 categories:

Category I IDAs: The following are covered by Category I

1. Funds that invest in start-ups or early-stage companies or social enterprises or SMEs or infrastructure

2. Other sectors or areas deemed socially or economically desirable by the government or regulators, including venture capital funds

3. IDAs with positive indirect effects on the economy, for which SEBI, the Government of India or other Indian regulators might consider certain incentives or concessions.

Category II IDA: The following are covered by Category II

1. AIFs for which the government or any other regulator does not provide specific incentives or concessions

2. That it will not be leveraged more than to meet the daily operating requirements as permitted in this Regulation

3. Which will include Private Equity Funds, Debt Funds, Fund of Funds and those other funds that are not classified in category I or III

Category III IDA: The following are covered by Category III

1. AIFs, including hedge funds that trade for short-term returns;

2. Employing diverse or complex business strategies

3. That they can use leverage even through investment in listed or unlisted derivatives

Applicability of the IDA Regulations to Real Estate Funds

After learning what an AIF is and its broad categories, we analyze whether the AIF Regulations are applicable to Real Estate Funds

First, AIF has to seek registration under the AIF Regulations under one of the three categories mentioned above. Therefore, if a Fund does not fall into any of the three categories mentioned above, it will not apply for registration with SEBI.

If we look at Category 1, funds that invest in start-ups or early-stage companies or social enterprises or SMEs or infrastructure require registration.

If we look at the definition of infrastructure, the Explanation of Regulation 2(m) states that Infrastructure will be defined by the Government of India from time to time.

And in normal parlance, the term generally refers to the technical structures that support a society, such as roads, water supply, sewage, power grids, etc.

telecommunications, etc., and can be defined as “the physical components of interrelated systems that provide basic products and services essential to enable, maintain or improve the living conditions of society”.

Therefore, infrastructure does not include real estate or construction activity since this activity consists of investing in land, urbanizing the land through the construction of houses, townships and other residential and commercial projects.

But if the real estate fund carries out certain projects with a social purpose such as the purchase of land for charity, etc.; then the fund may be covered by social enterprise funds.

The clause further states that ‘or other sectors or areas that the government or regulators consider socially or economically desirable and other Alternative Investment Funds that are specified;’

The IDA Regulations were notified only a few days ago, and to date no other IDA funds have been specified by the Government in Category 1. Furthermore, what the government or regulators consider socially and economically viable is a very broad concept. However, until the Government specifically comes out with specific inclusions in Category 1; a Real Estate Fund will not be covered by Category 1 and therefore would not require Registration.

In addition, the clause also states that: Alternative Investment Funds which are generally perceived to have positive spin-off effects on the economy and for which the Board or Government of India or other regulators in India might consider providing incentives or concessions.

By adding these lines to Category 1, SEBI has made Category 1 very vague and open to dispute and litigation, as what SEBI intends with positive spillover effects on the economy is not defined or clarified. Different people or organizations may have a different opinion on this, leading to unnecessary litigation and difficulties for business owners. However, until there is some clarity on this, business owners should take a cautious approach to the decision to apply for Registration under the IDA Regulations.

FIA Category II

We now examine whether a Real Estate Fund enters the FIA ​​Category II

If we look at the funds covered by Category II above,

1. Will not fall into Category I and III

2. Shall not engage in leverage or borrowing transactions other than to meet daily operating requirements and as permitted by these regulations;

3. They will be financed as private equity funds or debt funds for which the government or any other regulator does not provide specific incentives or concessions.

For the Real Estate Fund in Category I, we note that it currently does not fall into Category I and it also does not fall into Category III as these are basically hedge funds. In addition, the Government does not grant incentives or specific concessions to the Real Estate Sector. Therefore, if we look at the applicability of Real Estate Funds in Category II, these funds may fall into Category II AIFs if they do not take leverage or indebtedness, except for short-term requirements.

Impact of the FIA ​​on Real Estate Funds

As per these Regulations, the minimum investment amount should be Rs 1 crore from each investor. Therefore, attracting the funds from investors would be difficult for real estate funds, which used to raise amounts of less than INR 1 million from investors. Now they would have to find high-value investors, although this is not the only challenge facing those who obtain national corpus. They now also have to invest 2.5% of the corpus or Rs 5 crore, whichever is less, to ensure that the risk of the management company is aligned with that of the investor. Furthermore, a single investment in a company or project cannot exceed 25% of the total corpus.

In addition, a registered Real Estate Fund in the form of an LLP would also be covered by the AIF Regulations. In an LLP structure, since the investors are also partners, the risk of the investors’ rights being misused is minimal. Therefore, the application of the AIF Regulations to the LLP Structure would reduce the flexibility available to such Structure.

conclusion

Looking at the IDA Regulations from a short-term perspective, in light of the current difficult fundraising environment, the larger ticket size for investors could create some challenges and could somewhat constrain the growth of the asset class, but clearly In the long term, these regulations seem to have an element of maturity to play a critical role in developing and shaping the future of the alternative asset class in India. It is also clear that alternative investments are more sophisticated and risky compared to equity and debt investments, and until the market matures, it is recommended that only HNIs and well-informed investors invest in this asset class and once that the market matures, opens up. to all. In the long term, we may see more investment in the alternative asset class (in terms of size and maturity) due to increased investor confidence in these funds.

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