Finance (No. 2) Act 2023

236 Investment funds and investment entities

(1) An “investment fund” is an entity that meets all of the following conditions—

(a) it is designed to pool assets (which may be financial and non-financial) from a number of investors, at least some of which are not connected;

(b) it invests in accordance with a defined investment policy;

(c) it operates with a view to allowing its investors to reduce transaction, research, and analytical costs, or to spread risk collectively;

(d) it is primarily designed to generate investment income or gains, or protection against a particular or general event or outcome;

(e) investors have rights to the assets of the fund, or to income earned on those assets, based on the contributions made by those investors;

(f) the entity, or its management, is subject to a regulatory regime, that includes anti-money laundering and investor protection regulation, of—

(i) the territory in which the entity is established or managed, or

(ii) in the case of a permanent establishment, the territory in which the main entity is established or managed;

(g) it is managed by an investment management professional on behalf of the investors.

(2) An “insurance investment entity” is an entity that meets all of the following conditions—

(a) the entity is not an investment fund under subsection (1), but would be an investment fund if it were designed to pool assets from more than one investor or those investors were required not to be connected;

(b) the costs or risks the entity operates with a view to reducing are those associated with insurance or annuity contracts;

(c) the income or gains the entity is designed to generate are intended to offset, or the event or outcome the entity is designed to protect against consists of, losses arising or that may arise in connection with insurance or annuity contracts;

(d) no person other than members of the group has ownership interests in the entity;

(e) each person with direct ownership interests in the entity is subject to a regulatory regime in the territory in which it is established or managed, and that regime is specific to persons engaged in the business of entering into insurance or annuity contracts or of performing activities ancillary to such business.

(3) An entity is an investment entity if it is—

(a) an investment fund,

(b) a UK REIT or an overseas REIT equivalent,

(c) an entity—

(i) that is 95% owned by one or more entities falling within paragraph (a) or (b), and

(ii) whose activities consist, wholly or almost wholly, of the holding of assets or the investment of funds for the benefit of those owners,

(d) an entity—

(i) that is 85% owned by one or more entities falling within paragraph (a) or (b), and

(ii) whose income is wholly or almost wholly excluded dividends or excluded equity gains (or a mixture of both), or

(e) an insurance investment entity.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3) references to an entity being 95% or 85% owned by one or entities falling within paragraph (a) or (b) of that subsection is to those entities together having at least that percentage of the ownership interests in that entity.