Compliance Requirements of Private Equity Fund Managers under 2016 New Regulations of Asset Management Association of China Since February 7, 2014, the Asset Management Association of China ( AMAC ) has officially undertaken the functions of registration of private equity ( PE ) fund managers, filing of PE funds and industrial self-discipline management. In order to address certain issues and risks exposed during the past two years (for example, abuse of the registration or filing information for credit enhancement, lack of compliance awareness and failure to perform the on-going information reporting obligations by certain fund managers), since the beginning of 2016, AMAC has issued a series of industrial self-discipline rules, including the Guidelines for Internal Control of Private Equity Investment Fund Managers ( Internal Control Guidelines ), Administrative Measures on Information Disclosure by Private Equity Investment Funds ( Disclosure Measures ), Circular on Several Issues concerning the Further Supervision over Registration of Private Equity Fund Managers ( Circular No.4 ) and Administrative Measures on Fund-raising Activities of Private Equity Investment Funds ( Fund-raising Measures ). The foregoing rules are designed to rectify the existing irregularities and set out clear standards for operation activities in the PE industry so as to protect the interests of investors and sustain stableness of the PE market. With a focus on Circular No.4 while also taking other related laws, regulations and self-discipline rules into consideration, this article aims to provide a preliminary legal analysis of and certain suggestions on the compliance requirements applicable to institutions engaged in PE fund management ( Fund Management Institutions ). A. Fund Management Institutions shall apply with AMAC for registration and for filing of their fund products in a timely manner Fund Management Institutions shall apply with AMAC for registration as PE fund manager and shall file their PE fund products with AMAC within 20 working days upon completion of fund-raising for a particular fund product. Fund Management Institutions which fail to complete the said registration or filing would face adverse legal consequences (including orders for rectification, warnings and fines) and will be unable to participate in capital market activities in China. Specifically, where PE funds invest in the following projects, China Securities Regulatory Commission ( CSRC ) and National Equities Exchange and Quotations ( NEEQ ) require professional agencies such as sponsors and lawyers to examine and opine on whether the PE funds involved have gone through the fund filing procedure in accordance with relevant regulations: 1. Pre-IPO investments (by way of new subscription or acquisition of existing equity interests) in proposed listing companies or private placement of listed companies; 1
2. Mergers and reorganizations of listed companies (including asset acquisition by way of issuance of shares, merger, split and ancillary financing by listed companies); and 3. Application for listing, issuance of stock, major assets reorganization and the like at the NEEQ system by listed companies or proposed listing companies, in which PE fund managers or PE funds are involved as shareholders, potential stock subscribers or counterparties (i.e. the NEEQ market activities). Given that registration of the PE fund manager is a precondition for the filing of PE funds, a PE fund will not be able to participate in the aforementioned domestic capital market activities if its manager has not been duly registered with AMAC. Therefore, we suggest that Fund Management Institutions conduct self-examination as soon as possible and go through the registration/filing procedures of PE fund managers/fund products with AMAC before participation in IPO, mergers and reorganizations of listed companies, NEEQ market activities or other domestic capital market activities. B. PE fund managers shall file its first fund product in a timely manner, failing which its registration will be cancelled Against the backdrop that many institutions have been registered as PE fund manager without genuine business essence and a number of registered fund managers have lost contact or have not had any business operation, which has seriously affected the authenticity and validity of the statistics of the PE industry, Circular No. 4 requires PE fund managers to carry out their business in a timely manner and file their first PE fund product within the specified grace period. In case of failure to comply with the above, their registration as PE fund manager will be cancelled. The grace period varies according to the registration date of PE fund managers, which is detailed below: 1. 2. 私募基金管理人登记日期 Registration Date of PE Fund Managers 4 号文公布后新登记的 (2016 年 2 月 5 日后 ) Registered after promulgation of Circular No.4 (after February 5, 2016) 4 号文公布登记满 12 个月的前已登记 (2015 年 2 月 5 日及之前登记 ) Registered on or Registered for at least 12 months 备案期限 Grace Period 办结登记手续之日起 6 个月内 Within 6 months after registration 2016 年 5 月 1 日前 Before May 1, 2016 2
3. before promulgation of Circular No.4 (registered on or before February 5, 2015) 登记不满 12 个月的 (2015 年 2 月 6 日及之后登记 ) Registered for less than 12 months (registered on or after February 6, 2015) 2016 年 8 月 1 日前 Before August 1, 2016 In addition, according to AMAC, filing for a Consulting Management Fund will not be deemed as filing of the first fund product, at least so for the time being. C. Circular No.4 has specified the legal consequences for violation of the information reporting obligations Pursuant to the Measures for the Registration of PE Fund Managers and Filing of Funds (For Trial Implementation) (the Registration and Filing Measures ) and the Interim Regulations on Enterprise Information Disclosure, PE fund managers shall perform quarterly and annual information reporting obligations as well as reporting obligations regarding significant changes and annual financial statements. Circular No.4 further provides for the legal consequences for violation of the above obligations and has established the linkage mechanism with China s Enterprise Credit Information Disclosure System (the ECID System ), which is detailed below: 报送义务 Reporting Obligation 季度 年度和重大事项变更 Quarterly/Annual Information Reporting and Reporting of Information re Significant changes 年度经审计财报 Annual Audited Financial Statement 违反后果 Consequences for Violation - 整改前不受理基金备案申请 - will not be able to file any PE fund before rectification - 违反达 2 次的, 列入异常机构名单予以公示 - will be included in the list of abnormal institutions and disclosed to the public for two violations - 已登记的 : 整改前不受理基金备案申请, 并直接列入异常机构名单予以公示 - For registered managers: will not be able to file any PE fund before rectification; will be included in the list of abnormal institutions and disclosed to the public straight away - 成立满一年的机构新申请登记的, 不予登记 - For institutions which apply for new registration and which have been established for more than 1 year: registration application will be rejected 3
企业信用信息公示系统 联动 Linkage to the ECID system 对被列入严重违法企业公示名单的机构 : For institutions included in the list of enterprises with serious violations published at the ECID System: - 已登记的 : 整改前不受理基金备案申请, 并直接列入异常机构名单予以公示 - For registered managers: will not be able to file any PE fund before rectification; will be included in the list of abnormal institutions and disclosed to the public straight away - 新申请登记的, 不予登记 - For institutions which apply for new registration: registration application will be rejected For institutions included in the list of abnormal institutions, the state of abnormal will not be changed to normal until 6 months after rectification. Therefore, we suggest that Fund Management Institutions conduct self-examination and take measures to ensure compliance with the aforementioned information reporting obligations. D. Requirements for submission of legal opinions Circular No. 4 provides that, as effective from the date of its promulgation, PE fund managers shall submit legal opinions rendered by law firms when applying for the fund manager registration, or before filing the first fund product, or upon receipt of request from AMAC, or after occurrence of certain significant changes, which requirement has attracted extensive attention. According to the Guidelines for Legal Opinion regarding Registration of PE Fund Managers ( Legal Opinion Guidelines ) attached to Circular No. 4, issues to be addressed in the legal opinion basically cover almost all aspects of PE fund managers, and lawyers are required to give conclusive opinions item by item without ambiguous expressions (such as in compliance at large ). As a result, PE fund managers are effectively required to achieve full compliance, which it is widely believed to have changed the registration regime into an approval regime. According to public reports, AMAC is taking quite a strict stance on the review of legal opinions for PE fund manager registrations and the passing rate of submitted legal opinions is fairly low for the time being. Therefore, we suggest that Fund Management Institutions conduct self-examination and ensure compliance with various compliance requirements of AMAC before submitting 4
the legal opinion. Compliance requirements of AMAC, apart from those discussed in the sections below, include: 1. Proper name and business scope: AMAC requires that the name and business scope of PE fund managers shall include relevant wordings such as Fund Management, Investment Management, Assets Management, Equity Investment, Venture Capital Investment and so forth. However, currently, the Administration for Industry and Commerce in a number of localities has suspended registration of enterprises with the name or business scope with aforementioned wordings, which has greatly increased the difficulty for such compliance for the time being. 2. Due capital contribution: AMAC requires that fund managers shall have an appropriate level of capital. The public platform of AMAC gives special alerts if the paid-up capital of a fund manager is lower than 25% of its registered capital or lower than RMB 1 million. E. Fund practitioner qualifications for senior management personnel AMAC requires that senior management personnel of fund managers as well as other fund practitioners shall obtain PE fund practitioner qualifications. Circular No. 4 has further specified the scope of senior management personnel, clarified the conditions and requirements for obtaining and maintaining the fund practitioner qualifications and imposed requirements for rectification before Dec 31, 2016; if a PE fund manager fails to meet the said rectification requirement before the deadline, AMAC will suspend acceptance of its application for filing of fund products or for other significant changes. Meanwhile, the public platform of AMAC also gives special alerts of Senior Management Personnel Lacking Fund Practitioner Qualifications. Therefore, we suggest that Fund Management Institutions conduct self-examination, urge their senior management personnel to obtain fund practitioner qualifications as soon as possible as required by Circular No. 4, and submit the application for significant changes regarding fund practitioner qualifications before Dec 31, 2016. In addition, according to requirements of AMAC, fund managers shall not hire individual managers who have left public equity fund management companies for less than three months to engage in investment, research, transaction and other related activities. F. PE fund managers shall establish a sound risk management and internal control system The risk management and internal control system is a very important aspect of the legal opinion of fund managers. Such system should be established in accordance with the 5
Internal Control Guidelines issued by AMAC, which provide for self-discipline requirements in terms of internal environment, risk evaluation, control activities, information communication and internal supervision. The principle of professionalized operation provided in the Internal Control Guidelines is quite worth noting, which requires that PE fund managers shall have a very clear primary business and shall not concurrently engage in other businesses that are not related to or otherwise have a conflict of interests with the fund management business. According to AMAC, PE fund managers are not allowed to engage in private lending, private financing, margin trading, petty money management, petty credit, P2P/P2B, crowd funding, factoring, guarantee, real estate development, transaction platforms and other businesses which have a conflict of interests with the nature of PE funds. F. Regulations on fund-raising activities AMAC published the Fund-raising Measures on April 15, 2016, which will take effect on July 15th. The Fund-raising Measures have provided for specific regulations on fund-raising activities of PE funds, which aim to crack down on illegal activities such as public propaganda, misleading propaganda, collecting capital from unqualified investors and illegal sales of Fei Dan by certain practitioners (i.e., taking advantage of the reputation/platform of the sales institution to sell fund products not offered by the sales institution), etc. The Fund-raising Measures have set out clear provisions on the scope and activities of offering institutions. It is provided that fund managers may offer funds by themselves or entrust qualified fund sales institutions to offer funds. Effectively fund managers are not allowed to entrust the fund offering to other fund managers, and therefore Fund Management Institutions are restricted from concurrently engaging in the brokerage business. Meanwhile, the Fund-raising Measures have strengthened the responsibilities of PE fund managers, including duties to assess and identify qualified investors. It is also provided that PE fund managers shall not be exempted from legal liabilities in the event of entrustment of the fund offering. The Fund-raising Measures explicitly forbid public propaganda of fund products and performance, propagandizing to non-specific targets and illegal split and transfer of fund shares. In order to better protect the interests of investors, the fund raising institutions are also required to confirm the qualification of qualified investors and to comply with the cooling-off period and return-visit requirements. 6
Therefore, we suggest that Fund Management Institutions formulate or improve their own fund offering procedures in accordance with the Fund-raising Measures so as to ensure compliance, and in particular, pay attention to their potential legal liabilities. When necessary, Fund Management Institutions are advised to engage professional lawyers to prepare/revise their contract templates and other relevant transaction documents for the purpose of compliance and reasonable mitigation of risks. 7
基金业协会 2016 年新规项下私募基金管理人的合规要求 中国证券投资基金业协会 ( 基金业协会 ) 自 2014 年 2 月 7 日起正式开展私募基金管理人登记 私募基金备案和自律管理工作 针对两年来出现的一些问题和风险 ( 举例而言, 部分机构滥用登记备案信息自我增信 缺乏合规意识和没有按规定持续履行信息报告义务等 ), 基金业协会于 2016 年初相继发布了 私募投资基金管理人内部控制指引 ( 内控指引 ) 私募投资基金信息披露管理办法 ( 披露办法 ) 关于进一步规范私募基金管理人登记若干事项的公告 ( 4 号文 ) 和 私募投资基金募集行为管理办法 ( 募集办法 ) 等一系列自律规则, 以治理私募投资基金行业的乱象, 规范行业运作, 保护投资人利益与市场稳定 本文旨在以 4 号文为重点, 结合其它相关法律法规和自律规则, 针对从事私募基金管理业务的机构 ( 基金管理机构 ) 可能面临的相关合规问题提供初步的法律分析与建议 一 基金管理机构需要及时向基金业协会申请登记并就相关基金产品进行备案 私募基金管理人应当向基金业协会申请登记, 并应当在私募基金募集完毕后 20 个工作日内对私募基金进行备案 未能进行前述登记或备案的, 不但可能需要承担不利的法律后果 ( 包括责令改正 警告及罚款 ), 而且无法参与境内资本市场业务 中国证券监督管理委员会 ( 证监会 ) 和全国中小企业股份转让系统 ( 股转系统 ) 对于有私募基金参与以下项目的, 要求保荐机构 律师等中介机构应对该私募基金是否已按规定履行备案程序进行核查并发表意见 : 1. 私募基金在企业首次公开发行前投资入股或受让股权, 或参与上市公司定向增发的 ; 2. 私募基金参与上市公司并购重组 ( 包括上市公司发行股份购买资产, 合并 分立, 配套融资等 ); 以及 3. 私募基金管理人或私募基金作为股东 股票认购对象或交易对手方参与企业在股转系统的申请挂牌 股票发行或重大资产重组等环节的 ( 即新三板业务 ) 鉴于私募基金管理人登记是私募基金产品备案的前提, 如未依法登记, 其管理的私募基金将无法参与上述境内资本市场业务 8
因此, 建议基金管理机构尽快进行自我核查, 在该等相关机构或其管理之私募基金产品拟参与上市发行 上市公司并购重组或新三板等境内资本市场业务之前, 完成在基金业协会的私募基金管理人登记及 / 或基金产品备案 二 私募基金管理人应及时备案首只基金产品, 否则将被注销登记 针对大量机构盲目登记为私募基金管理人, 以及众多机构失联或不开展业务严重影响私募行业统计监测工作的真实性和有效性的情况,4 号文要求私募基金管理人及时开展业务, 在展业宽限期内备案首只私募基金产品 ; 逾期未备案的, 将被注销登记 备案期限按私募基金管理人的登记日期分为三种, 具体总结如下 : 4. 5. 6. 私募基金管理人登记日期 Registration Date of PE Fund Managers 4 号文公布后新登记的 (2016 年 2 月 5 日后 ) Registered after promulgation of Circular No.4 (after February 5, 2016) 登记满 12 个月的 (2015 年 2 月 5 日及之前登记 ) Registered for at least 12 months (registered on or before February 5, 2015) 4 号文公布前已登记 Registered on or before promulgation of Circular No.4 登记不满 12 个月的 (2015 年 2 月 6 日及之后登记 ) Registered for less than 12 months (registered on or after February 6, 2015) 备案期限 Grace Period 办结登记手续之日起 6 个月内 Within 6 months after registration 2016 年 5 月 1 日前 Before May 1, 2016 2016 年 8 月 1 日前 Before August 1, 2016 此外, 基金业协会还称, 顾问管理型基金 的备案申请暂不能作为首只基金产品备案 三 4 号文明确了违反信息报送义务的法律后果 根据 私募投资基金管理人登记和基金备案办法 ( 试行 ) ( 登记备案办法 ) 与 企业信息公示暂行条例, 私募基金管理人应履行季度 年度 重大事项变更和年度财报的信息报送义务 4 号文进一步规定了违反上述信息报送义务的法律后果, 并建立了与企业信用信息公示系统的联动机制 具体来说 : 9
报送义务 Reporting Obligation 季度 年度和重大事项变更 Quarterly/Annual Information Reporting and Reporting of Information re Significant changes 年度经审计财报 Annual Audited Financial Statement 企业信用信息公示系统联动 Linkage to the ECID system 违反后果 Consequences for Violation - 整改前不受理基金备案申请 - will not be able to file any PE fund before rectification - 违反达 2 次的, 列入异常机构名单予以公示 - will be included in the list of abnormal institutions and disclosed to the public for two violations - 已登记的 : 整改前不受理基金备案申请, 并直接列入异常机构名单予以公示 - For registered managers: will not be able to file any PE fund before rectification; will be included in the list of abnormal institutions and disclosed to the public straight away - 成立满一年的机构新申请登记的, 不予登记 - For institutions which apply for new registration and which have been established for more than 1 year: registration application will be rejected 对被列入严重违法企业公示名单的机构 : For institutions included in the list of enterprises with serious violations published at the ECID System: - 已登记的 : 整改前不受理基金备案申请, 并直接列入异常机构名单予以公示 - For registered managers: will not be able to file any PE fund before rectification; will be included in the list of abnormal institutions and disclosed to the public straight away - 新申请登记的, 不予登记 - For institutions which apply for new registration: registration application will be rejected 其中, 被列入异常机构名单的, 到整改至少 6 个月后才恢复正常机构公示状态 因此, 建议基金管理机构开展自我核查, 注意遵守前述季度 年度 重大事项报告及财报等信息报送义务 四 提交法律意见书的要求 10
这是 4 号文最受关注的内容, 规定自公布之日起, 私募基金管理人在申请登记时 备案首只基金产品前 接到基金业协会要求后或发生特定重大事项变更后, 提交律师事务所出具的法律意见书 根据基金业协会附随公布的 私募基金管理人登记法律意见书指引 ( 法律意见书指引 ), 法律意见书核验内容基本覆盖了私募基金管理人的各个方面, 并要求律师逐项发表结论性意见, 不得使用 基本合规 等模糊表达 客观上是要求基金管理人必须实现全面合规, 普遍认为这实质上将登记制变为了审批制 根据公开报道, 基金业协会目前严格审核私募基金管理人登记法律意见书, 已提交的法律意见书的通过率较低 因此, 建议基金管理机构自我核查, 确保提交法律意见书之前符合基金业协会的各项合规要求 除本文下述提及的各项要求外, 该等合规要求还包括 : 1. 规范机构名称与经营范围 基金业协会要求私募基金管理人的名称和经营范围应当包含 基金管理 投资管理 资产管理 股权投资 创业投资 等相关字样 但目前多地工商部门已暂停含前述字样的名称和经营范围核准登记, 使得目前该项合规的难度大大提高 2. 适当履行出资义务 基金业协会要求基金管理人有适当的资本金 ; 其公示平台上对于管理人实缴资本低于注册资本 25% 或低于 100 万人民币的情况也作出了特别提示 五 高管人员基金从业资格要求 基金业协会要求私募基金管理人的高管人员与其他基金从业人员应当具备私募基金从业资格 4 号文进一步明确了高管的范围, 细化了从业资格取得和维持途径, 并提出了 2016 年 12 月 31 日前限时整改的要求 ; 逾期未整改的, 基金业协会将暂停受理其基金产品备案申请及其他重大事项变更申请 同时基金业协会的公示系统也增加了 高管人员无证券投资基金从业资格 的公示提示事项 因此, 建议基金管理机构尽快开展自我核查, 督促相关高管人员按 4 号文规定尽快取得私募基金从业资格, 并于 2016 年 12 月 31 日前提交高管人员资格重大事项变更申请 此外, 根据基金业协会的要求, 基金管理人不应聘用从其他公募基金管理公司离任未满 3 个月的基金经理从事投资 研究 交易等相关业务 六 私募基金管理人应建立健全风险管理和内部控制制度 11
风险管理与内部控制制度属于法律意见书重点核验的对象, 而该制度主要依据为基金业协会发布的 内控指引 该指引从内部环境 风险评估 控制活动 信息沟通及内部监督等方面对私募基金提出自律要求 其中颇值得关注的, 是 内控指引 规定的 专业化运营 原则, 要求主营业务清晰, 不得兼营与私募基金管理无关或存在利益冲突的其他业务 根据基金业协会相关解答, 禁止兼营的其他业务包括民间借贷 民间融资 配资业务 小额理财 小额借贷 P2P/P2B 众筹 保理 担保 房地产开发 交易平台等 与私募基金的属性相冲突 的业务 七 募集行为的规范 基金业协会于 4 月 15 日公布了 募集办法, 将于 7 月 15 日生效 该办法明确和规范了私募基金的募集行为, 旨在针对公开宣传 虚假宣传 向非合格投资者募集资金和部分从业人员非法售卖 飞单 ( 即借销售机构之声誉 / 平台售卖非由该机构发行之基金产品 ) 等违规行为进行集中规范 募集办法 明确了募集机构范围及其行为, 规定基金管理人可自行募集其设立的基金, 也可委托具有相关资质的基金销售机构募集基金 该规定客观上禁止基金管理人之间相互委托募集基金, 限制基金管理机构兼营中介业务 同时, 募集办法 强化规定了基金管理人的责任范围, 包括合格投资者甄别和认定责任, 并规定不得因委托募集而免除基金管理人依法应当承担的责任 募集办法 明确禁止公开宣传基金产品和业绩, 禁止面向非特定对象宣传, 禁止非法拆分转让, 要求进行合格投资者确认并增加了冷静期与回访制度, 以期更好地保护投资者的利益 因此, 建议基金管理机构根据 募集办法 理顺其募集流程以确保合规操作, 并留意应由自己承担的法定责任 在必要的时候建议聘请专业律师修订其合同模板与相关交易文件以保证合规及合理规避风险 12