Non-U.S. advisers to private investment funds with U.S. investors and/or to U.S. clients, may be required to register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) under the U.S. Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”), in light of the U.S. Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”), unless they qualify for an exemption. Prior to Dodd-Frank, an exemption from registration was readily available for non-U.S. advisers with fewer than 15 U.S. “clients,” without the need to count as clients any U.S. investors in their private fund. A more detailed description of the new rules can be found here.

Focusing on the important questions -

Dodd-Frank eliminated the prior exemption and replaced it with two more narrowly defined exemptions potentially available to non-U.S. advisers. This means all non-U.S. advisers with a direct or indirect link to U.S. clients and investors need to know the answers to a number of important questions:

Please see full Alert below for further information.