Arendt Investor Services, established in 2009, has grown from “a small group of probably half a dozen” people to 300 professionals today, said , chairman of the board of directors of Arendt Investor Services and a partner at the law firm Arendt & Medernach. Niedner, along with the management team of Arendt Investor Services, held a press conference at the firm’s offices in Hamm on 20 November 2024 to mark its 15th anniversary.

The investor services arm of Arendt was formed in April 2009, just after the great financial crisis. “We considered that it would be good to create a company which would be able to provide corporate services, domiciliation services to the clients of the law firm in order to be able to service our clients better,” he explained. “That was the beginning of the company, which--since 2009--developed beyond our expectations.”

Arendt itself is actually made up of five different companies: there’s the law firm Arendt & Medernach (founded in 1988); there’s Arendt Investor Services (established in 2009); Arendt Institute (for specialised legal training, founded in 2011); Arendt Regulatory and Consulting (set up in 2013); and finally AManco (established in 2021). Altogether, the group counts 1,300 staff members, of which roughly 1,250 are based in Luxembourg.

“Luxembourg has developed a really strong financial centre, and that is also explaining the growth we are experiencing at Arendt Investor Services, and also beyond Arendt Investor Services, at the level of the other companies in the Arendt ecosystem,” said Niedner.

Five service lines

Arendt Investor Services itself has five service lines, as , CEO of Arendt Investor Services, explained. They are: tax compliance services, governance services, corporate services, fund services (including administration and depositary) and operational compliance services for AML/CFT. These are activities that help clients to operate in the Luxembourg “ecosystem.”

For Stéphanie Maschiella, who heads Arendt’s tax compliance services, tax compliance is no longer seen as “a purely back-office function within the industry.” Regulations and requirements have evolved a lot and become much more complex. “In Arendt, we have successfully integrated tax compliance within our broader tax strategy,” she explained. The tax compliance team aims to be more than a service provider and works together with “in-house specialists” to provide clients with “holistic and integrated solutions.” The firm’s “multidisciplinary approach is truly a game-changer,” said Maschiella.

leads the company’s governance services department, which includes looking after activities like board or shareholder meetings. “The growth is really fuelled by the interest in governance by asset managers. It’s also an area where we need more and more qualified people,” he said. The firm also is benefiting from a trend towards outsourcing, Lentschat added, citing the example of a partnership between Arendt and BNP Paribas.

The head of Arendt Investor Services’ corporate services and liquidation activities  presented the range of services her team of 70 professionals provides to clients for their day-to-day operations. These include setting up companies, accounting services, managing reporting, filing with the Luxembourg trade register and more. Clients, she added, are diverse: they can be multinationals, startups, funds investing in real estate or private equity, asset managers or private wealth managers. “Our clientele just kept growing and diversifying over the years,” said Marty. “It’s very international, very global, spanning different industries and different continents.”

Manco service helps make Luxembourg attractive

leads AManco, the Arendt group’s alternative investment fund manager (AIFM), which was launched in 2021. It provides services like portfolio management, risk management and valuation services to alternative investment funds, managing “all types of strategies” within the AIF universe. “We may also manage liquid assets such as equity and fixed income, but always in combination with a more illiquid alternative strategy,” she said. The team now counts 11 people and has €10bn in assets under management.

“In order to set up a fund in Luxembourg, you need to have an investment management company, at least in Europe,” added Niedner, explaining why Arendt is managing assets. Some asset managers may have their own management company, but this isn’t the case for all of them, particularly smaller asset managers. “This is like a third-party management company service which is provided.” AManco can, for instance, help with meeting regulatory requirements. Arendt is not the only firm to offer this kind of service, he said, and it’s important because it helps make Luxembourg a “very attractive” place to set up funds. Luxembourg is developing into an “international, pan-European fund centre, and having the possibility of the management company is really key for the success of the industry. That’s why we also have one, because otherwise our offer is not complete.”

AManco is “fully owned by Arendt Investor Services,” but the two are distinct entities for regulatory reasons, noted Schneider. “We cannot combine the AIFM and the depositary part within the same entity from a regulatory perspective.”

Fund administration and AML/CFT

Quentin Gillois, who leads the fund administration services department at Arendt Investor Services, attributes the success of his team to two factors: “deep expertise” in the alternative investment space and investment in “cutting-edge technology.” For Gillois, the “one-stop-shop approach” allows the firm to provide support to clients along “every step” of the fund’s lifecycle, from setting it up to liquidation.

Finally, the fifth service line consists of operational anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) services and is led by Michel Iannone. The “large scrutiny from the regulator of the past years makes us an added value for the client, because they can focus on their core area [of business] and rely on us for expertise.”

Heinen summed up the work done by Arendt Investor Services by highlighting the range of services it could provide to clients setting up shop in Luxembourg. Fifteen years ago, it was less complicated to operate in Luxembourg. Now, things have gotten more complex. The law firm can tell you “what you need to do by law,” but “there’s still somebody who needs to do it,” he said, and that’s where Arendt Investor Services come in. It’s no longer just the “baby” of the Arendt group; it’s a “teenager” standing on its own feet and evolves to meet client needs.

For Jean-Daniel Zandona, who was in May 2024, “we’re reaching a defining corporate moment.” “We feel like we’re reaching a sufficient size to be more assertive, more outgoing in the way we engage with market participants.”

“Luxembourg as a financial centre is growing further,” concluded Niedner. “There are many asset managers--the largest managers in the world--which are actually present in Luxembourg or want to set up funds in Luxembourg. It’s really a success story.” The alternative investment fund industry is set to grow in the years to come, he argued, and “Luxembourg is very well positioned in that respect.” “I’m optimistic about the future, because we are very strong in alternatives.”