Dublin / New York, Jan 20, 2021

The much-anticipated reformed Irish Limited Partnership Law (ILP) has now passed all stages of the parliamentary process and has become a reality for private equity (PE) funds. This new legislation will enable Ireland to become a leading EU domicile for private equity funds as the country now provides a viable alternative to the Luxembourg SCSp and the English private fund limited partnership.

As the only PE fund administrator headquartered in Ireland, Centaur is delighted to welcome the new ILP Act and is already dealing with the establishment of new structures under the legislation.

The number of PE funds being set up in Ireland is rising and the ILP is an important legislative development as Ireland becomes an increasingly attractive and competitive hub for private equity sponsors. The Act makes a number of positive changes. In particular, the ILP:

• Permits unlimited numbers of limited partners.
• Creates and extends safe harbour provisions to permit investors to take certain actions without being deemed to be taking part in the management of the ILP.
• Allows for the establishment of umbrella ILPs with segregated liability between sub-funds.
• Permits the migration into and out of Ireland of existing limited partnerships.
• Brings changes and clarifications to the Irish carried interest tax rules.
• Facilitates the administrative process for funds.

The ILP is authorised and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) and is a common law partnership structure and tax transparent AIF. The CBI is updating its rules and requirements to issue guidance appropriate for closed ended funds and has already confirmed that a general partner will not need to be authorised or approved (although its directors will be subject to the CBI fitness and probity regime).

Karen Malone, Founding Partner of Centaur Fund Services, says “As a major service provider to the PE sector, we welcome the arrival of the ILP Act. We expect that the ILP amendments will drive strong activity for Ireland in January 2021 and beyond as Ireland becomes an even more competitive jurisdiction for private equity funds and for other closed end limited partnerships investing across various asset classes such as credit and loan origination, energy, infrastructure, VC and real estate.”

She continues, “As the only private equity fund administrator headquartered in Ireland, we are in a unique position to support private equity funds from Dublin. We have deep sectoral knowledge of private equity strategies and structures and we have very strong relationships with all relevant service providers allowing us to manage every aspect of the fund administration process for our private equity clients.”

HOW CENTAUR CAN ASSIST

Centaur provides fund administration services to the PE sector and is the only PE fund administrator headquartered in Ireland. Our dedicated PE team provides specialist accounting, investor relations, customized reporting at fund level and investor level, corporate services, transactional support, regulatory reporting and audit support.

For more information, please contact:

Europe:                                 Gavan McGuire: gavan.mcguire@centaurfs.com

North America:                    Richard Johnson: richard.johnson@centaurfs.com