Definition: Hedge fund

Category: ECB terminology

Any collective investment undertakings regardless of its legal structure under national laws, which apply relatively unconstrained investment strategies to achieve positive absolute returns, and whose managers, in addition to management fees, are remunerated in relation to the fund’s performance. For that purpose, hedge funds have few restrictions on the type of financial instruments in which they may invest and may therefore flexibly employ a wide variety of financial techniques, involving leverage, short-selling or any other techniques. This definition also covers funds that invest, in full or in part, in other hedge funds provided that they otherwise meet the definition. These criteria to identify hedge funds must be assessed against the public prospectus as well as fund rules, statutes or by-laws, subscription documents or investment contracts, marketing documents or any other statement with similar effect of the fund. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:341:0001:0232:EN:PDF