Effective as of March 30th, 2022, with Decree no. 19/2022 ("Decree"), the Italian Ministry of Economic Affairs has amended the requirements to subscribe/acquire shares or units in Italian reserved alternative investment funds (so-called "FIA Italiani Riservati" – "Reserved AIFs"), by enlarging the array of eligible retail investors.
In fact, besides professional investors, before the Decree has come into force, under Italian laws Reserved AIFs could have been offered exclusively to retail investors for amounts not lower than Euro 500,000, or to directors and employees of the relevant asset management company.
Pursuant to the Decree, Reserved AIFs' regulations or by-laws may include, among the eligible investors, also the following:
(a) retail investors who – recurring to investment advisory services – subscribe/acquire shares or units for an amount not lower than Euro 100,000 (provided however that Reserved AIFs do not exceed – comprehensively – 10% of their financial portfolio);
(b) entities qualified to provide portfolio management services which – within such services – subscribe/acquire shares or units for an amount not lower than Euro 100,000 on behalf of retail investors;
(c) asset management companies' personnel, thus encompassing not only directors and employees, but all those individuals involved in the company's operations, even if not under strictu sensu employment relationships.
Said changes, and in particular items under letter (a) and (b) above, by materially dropping down the relevant thresholds, may foster Reserved AIFs investments among retail investors.
