Regulatory Competition in European Partnership Law: A Case of Alternative Investment Funds

This paper analyses the recent reforms of a limited partnership used for structuring alternative investment funds in the UK (2017), Luxembourg (2013) and France (2015). The introduction of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (2011) has prompted the EU Member States to modernise their legal structures to get ahead of an increasing competition as a leading fund and fund manager domicile. This paper argues that the UK Private Fund Limited Partnership is the most competitive legal structure in terms of management rights accorded to investors and tax-transparency. Luxembourg provides an equally competitive limited partnership model, which will be used extensively by fund managers and investors post-Brexit. A regulatory competition in partnership law will incite other EU Member States to review their legislation applicable to this legal form.