The Registrar of Companies proceeded with an announcement on their website, clarifying a grey area as to who may be considered as a beneficial owner of investment funds. The term “Investment Funds” includes the entities that are registered in the Registrar of Companies as Collective Investment Organizations, i.e.:
The notification of real beneficiaries in the Register must be made both for natural persons holding management shares and for natural persons holding investment shares.
Where the Investment Fund is structured as an "umbrella type" fund with more than one investment compartment, the definition of beneficial owner shall apply to the legal entity registered in the Register of Companies at umbrella level (the vehicle entity). It is understood that the "umbrella type" Investment Fund constitutes a single legal entity.
In determining the beneficial owners who hold more than 25% of the value of the shares of an Investment Fund, the last official calculation of the Net Asset Value (NAV) should be taken into account. For the first notification with a start date of 16/03/2021, the Net Asset Value of the date 31/12/2020 must be taken into account. In case the Investment Fund has calculated the Net Asset Value between the period 01/01/2021 and 15/03/2021, for the first notification it will use the last Net Asset Value before 16/03/2021.
The Investment Funds must notify any changes to the beneficial owners within 14 days from the official calculation of the Net Asset Value. If an Investment Fund calculates its Net Asset Value on a quarterly basis, then on a quarterly basis it must also notify any changes to the Register. If there is an extraordinary calculation of the Net Asset Value, at any given time, and within 14 days from that calculation, a relevant notification should be made to the Register, if there are any changes in the data that are already registered.
In the event that, after all possible means have been exhausted and provided that there are no reasonable suspicions, no person has been identified as the actual beneficiary or if there is a doubt that the person identified is the actual beneficiary, the person or persons holding or hold the position of senior executive are declared as actual beneficiaries in the Register.
In the case of externally managed Investment Funds, after all possible means have been exhausted and provided that there are no reasonable suspicions, no person has been identified as the actual beneficiary or if there is a doubt that the person identified is the actual beneficiary, the natural person declared as beneficial owner in the Register is the General Manager of the External Administrator.
