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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 March 2019
On January, 1st 2004 the new German Investment Act (Investmentgesetz – “InvestG”) has entered into force and has established a new legal frame for funds. Especially hedge funds are regulated by German law for the first time. Nevertheless the solutions, used to establish hedge fund investments in Germany in the past, remain legal and it is argued that they will continue to play a practical role. The new InvestG on the one hand modernises German law, but on the other hand still clings to a somewhat old-fashioned regulatory approach. At the same time there are efforts at the European level to harmonise European hedge fund legislation. As a result an analysis of the German hedge fund regulation has to deal with three different, partly overlapping regimes: A past, that is still not bygone (II.), a present which is still not modern at all (III.), and a near future that will bring more changes and probably lead to an up-to-date regulation (IV.). After an introduction to these three regimes, I shall conclude with a short summary pointing out the main deficits of the new German legislation (V).
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