The Private Equity Review Tenth Edition by Stephen L Ritchie

The Private Equity Review Tenth Edition by Stephen L Ritchie

Part I
Fundraising

Chapter 1
AUSTRIA
Martin Abram and Clemens Philipp Schindler
I GENERAL OVERVIEW
At the time of writing, no information was available about the fundraising market in 
2020. The most recent information available is for 2019, for which the Austrian Venture 
Capital Association reported that Austrian private equity and venture capital funds raised 
€192 million, compared with €162 million in 2018 and €216 million in 2017.
The number and volume of Austrian private equity and venture capital funds continues 
to be well below the European average. 
The announcement of the Austrian government in 2020 that it intends to implement 
a programme to provide incentives for private equity investment into start-ups and small 
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which includes potential tax incentives as well as a 
new corporate form (akin to a Luxembourg SICAV) for alternative investment funds (AIFs), 
was not pursued mainly because of the covid-19 pandemic and its economic impact. As two 
major Austrian banks have announced their intention to set up AIFs to provide equity and 
debt financing primarily to Austrian SMEs to counteract the economic effects of the covid-19 
pandemic, it is expected that this will provide new impetus to the Austrian government to 
actually implement the announced programme.
II LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR FUNDRAISING
Since the introduction of the Alternative Investment Manager Act (AIFMG), which 
implements the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, most private equity 
funds established in Austria will qualify as AIFs under the AIFMG. An AIF is defined as a 
collective investment undertaking that raises capital from a number of investors to invest it 
in accordance with a defined investment policy for the benefit of those investors, and that 
does not use the capital for direct operational purposes. Funds pursuant to the Austrian 
Investment Funds Act as well as funds qualifying under the Austrian Real Estate Investment 
Funds Act are not captured by the AIFMG.
The formation of an AIF requires the prior approval of the Austrian Financial Market 
Authority (FMA) if the fund is managed by a licensed alternative investment fund manager 
(AIFM). If the fund is managed by a registered AIFM, it only has to be registered with

The Private Equity Review Tenth Edition by Stephen L Ritchie