Interview with Nigel P. Williams, Founder of Royalton Partners

6/04/2017

Royalton Partners

Royalton Partners is an authorized Alternative Investment Fund Manager headquartered and regulated in Luxembourg.
Royalton Partner’s management team has been investing together since 1990 and is focused on the management of illiquid assets held in closed-ended fund structures, including private equity, real estate and infrastructure.
Currently, Royalton Partners runs two business lines: CEE Private Equity Management and third party AIFM platform.
Royalton has 14 professionals representing 7 nationalities; the core of the team resides in Luxembourg.

Why did a company like Royalton Partners choose Luxembourg?

We chose Luxembourg because as a country, it has the largest number of investment funds in the world outside the US. In addition to this, the Grand Duchy has the right fund structures to grow a third party ManCo business.

Over the next few year, what will you need to run a business efficiently?

Royalton is building its internal systems and strengthening its core compliance and risk teams. We need to assist clients not only by managing their money but also by helping them to raise it.

What sort of threats and opportunities have you identified for the coming years?

I think our key opportunities lie in continuing to develop our Luxembourg business and to boost our relationships with Germany, France and Spain. I haven’t identified any threats but from a regulatory perspective, I think that the current situation is static because the AIFMD has not been fully implemented across the EU. Until it is implemented in the Netherlands and Scandinavia, a significant amount of business will pass us by. People won’t need our services until those countries are fully compliant with the AIFMD. If you want to raise money in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Austria, you need the structure of an AIFM. Outside of that zone, there is no need for it. The biggest threat for us in the medium term is that the AIFMD will not be fully implemented in other EU countries.

What effect has the digital transformation had on your business?

We continue to upgrade our systems but we’re not a massive asset management company and we deal with a limited number of clients. We are conscious of the need for an efficient digital transformation, should our client base drastically increase. We currently operate with a small number of very big clients, managing 500 million or a billion euros on their behalf. Companies need efficient systems when dealing with a huge number of clients. However, we’re in a different position.

“We chose Luxembourg because as a country, it has the largest number of investment funds in the world outside the US.”