IQ-EQ has established French AIFM platform with the achievement of a real estate AIFM licence in France.
The firm is now able to act as an alternative investment fund manager in France for all alternative asset classes, it said in a statement on 22 January.
With this new regulatory licence, IQ-EQ France is now able to provide its existing full suite of AIFM services to real estate structures and act as a third-party AIF management company for real estate investment firms wishing to raise capital in Europe via France.
While this licence is a new achievement for the firm, IQ-EQ has a strong track record of helping global asset managers access European investors through its AIFM services and third-party AIFM platforms in France as well as Luxembourg, Ireland and the UK, across a range of asset classes including private equity and debt.
In France, IQ-EQ’s AIFM business is also one of the few management companies that additionally offers a loan granting licence, allowing funds to act among a pool of banks.
Furthermore, IQ-EQ said it has deep real estate expertise across its European offices and in the US and Asia. Its real estate teams provide end-to-end support services across all stages of the real estate lifecycle and have considerable experience establishing and administering the full spectrum of holding structures.
IQ-EQ’s move to further bolster its French market offering comes at a time when the country’s alternatives sector is showing strong resilience despite the current macroeconomic conditions, with Pitchbook forecasting that France will achieve the second-highest growth among the major European economies in 2023.
IQ-EQ’s French AIFM offering is led by Fèmy Mouftaou. In his role as head of fund management, he oversees the group’s securitisation and private equity and real estate (PERE) departments in France, supported by "a strong and growing" Paris-based team.
Mouftaou said: “Europe represents the world’s second-largest pool of capital after the U.S., making it a highly appealing target for non-EU alternative investment fund managers.
“Certainly, we’re seeing increasing interest from our clients in Asia and the U.S. in marketing their funds to professional investors in the EU. And the French alternatives sector, in particular, has shown resilience in spite of the ongoing market volatility – making France a key growth market for IQ-EQ.”
He continued: “IQ-EQ already provides one of the most complete service suites to fund managers operating in France, and this new real estate AIFM capability further adds to our French service offering. We’re very excited to have this licence in place and look forward to leveraging our global real estate expertise to further serve one of Europe’s largest and most dynamic alternative investment markets.”
