Newsletter December 09: Compromise on EU hedge funds is dead in the water

BRUSSELS – The Swedish attempt to broker a compromise deal over the EU’s controversial Alternative Investment Fund Management (AIFM) Directive before the year-end has been abandoned. It will now be up to the Spanish, who take over the rotating six-monthly presidency of the EU Council from the Swedes on January 1, to find a way of bridging the rifts that have emerged over the Directive. It aims to regulate a range of asset managers, including hedge funds, private equity funds, real estate funds and commodity funds.