Seychelles Public Fund

The Mutual Fund and Hedge Fund Act, 2008 sets out the guidelines pertaining to the application and licensing of mutual funds and other collective investment entities.

Key Features

A Seychelles Public Fund is recognised as a mutual fund and is neither a Private nor a Professional Fund. Every licensed public fund must have at least:

• two natural persons as directors, in the case of a company, which is resident in or outside Seychelles;
• two natural persons as general partners or two natural persons as directors of one or more corporate general partners, in the case of a partnership, which is resident in or outside Seychelles;
• two natural persons as trustees or two natural persons as directors of corporate trustees, in the case of a unit trust, which is resident in or outside Seychelles.

Legal Requirements

Requirements	Description
General
Corporate  vehicle permitted	IBC (International Business Company), CSL (Special License Company), Trust and PCC (Protected Cell Company)
·         License application fee	USD 1,000
·         Annual license fee	USD 1,000
Local physical office required	No
Share capital or equivalent
·         Minimum subscription	None
·         Minimum investors	None
Directors
Minimum number	2
Corporate directorship allowed	Yes
Local director required	No
Service Providers Required
Custodian	Yes
Fund manager/Investment manager	Yes
Fund administrator	Yes (from Seychelles)
Auditors	Yes

Tax Treatment

• The Business Tax Act does not apply to licensed and exempt funds unless the licensed fund is a company under the Companies (Special Licence) Act, 2003, in which case a tax rate of 1.5% will be applicable on the income of the fund.
• No withholding tax is payable on dividends and/or interest payable.

Duration to Set Up

Around 3 months

Distinctive Benefits of Licence

• Ease and speed of establishment
• Flexible structuring of the entity
• Favourable compliance restrictions
• Friendly regulatory environment
• A mutual fund in Seychelles can be administered by a Seychelles Licensed fund administrator or an approved foreign administrator domiciled outside Seychelles.

The Valsen Advantage

• End to end comprehensive service
• Speedy and efficient service
• Expert advice on structuring options
• Dedicated ongoing compliance support
• Extensive network pool of service providers