The AIFMD provides a harmonized European framework for regulating alternative investment funds. Prior to discussing its details, this chapter introduces to the AIFMD, discussing the developments that led to its adoption (Part 1), the AIFMD's principal objectives (Part 2) and its key tools for...

This study aims to analyse the provisions of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council (2011/61/EU) which pertain to its scope. It is divided into two Sections:(a) Section A offers an overview of the legal framework governing alternative...

In the interest of consumer financial protection, most households do not have access to the hedge fund market. We show that this creates an inequality of investment opportunities. Wealthy households can access this market, and while these retail investors behave very differently from...

Hedge funds go beyond their statements on the transaction purpose in the beneficial ownership report Schedule 13 D by stating their activism objectives additionally in a letter to the CEO or board in more than one of ten activism events. Reactance theory indicates that the separate communication...

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based technologies represent one of the most debated topics in the financial services landscape. In this respect, during the past months several institutional investors, and namely hedge funds and their managers, have demonstrated a growing interest in the...

After the global financial crisis, systemic risk regulation has taken center stage. Many consider hedge funds a potential threat to financial stability. Regulating hedge funds, however, is necessarily a transnational challenge because no national government alone can effectively control the...

Blockholder disclosure thresholds shape incentives for hedge fund activism, which are jointly determined with real investment and managerial behavior. Uninformed investors value lower thresholds (greater transparency) when the cost of trading against an informed activist outweighs the benefits...

This paper explains how hedge-fund activists are exerting power over corporate resource allocation far in excess of the actual voting power of their shareholdings. The power of these “minority-shareholding corporate raiders” derives from misguided regulatory “reforms” carried out in the...

This text contains the general report for the XVIIIth Congress on Comparative Law to be held in Washington DC. It gives a comparative overview of the three types of funds to be discussed, and some of the problems that have been raised about them. On hedge funds, the analysis indicates that most...