What are investment funds?
How pooling works, the main fund types, active versus passive, what you pay, how risk is measured in the EU and how to choose a fund that fits.
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Private equity · European defence and security
Capital for the security of Europe.
General Assets Defensive Strategies invests in privately held European companies that equip armed forces and security services: aerospace, naval and land systems, sensors, cyber security and space.
Key facts
- Asset class
- Private equity
- Investment region
- Europe
- Legal structure
- Luxembourg RAIF
- Fund term
- To end of 2040
- Status
- In preparation
The investment case
Europe has decided to pay for its own defence
After three decades of falling budgets, European governments have committed to rebuilding their armed forces and the industry behind them. That is a spending programme measured in decades. The large contractors cannot deliver it without the privately owned suppliers behind them, and those suppliers need capital to expand.
The fund is designed to provide that capital. It will take equity stakes in privately held European companies that make the components, sensors, electronics and software that armed forces and security services depend on, and work with their management to grow capacity.
We select companies on order books, margins and balance sheets. A political commitment to spend is a starting point for analysis and no more than that.
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March 2025
Readiness 2030
The European Commission presents its defence white paper and the ReArm Europe plan, intended to mobilise up to EUR 800 billion of additional defence spending.
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May 2025
SAFE instrument adopted
The Council of the EU adopts Security Action for Europe, providing up to EUR 150 billion in loans for joint procurement, with a preference for European suppliers.
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June 2025
NATO summit in The Hague
Allies agree to raise defence and security-related spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, of which at least 3.5% for core defence requirements.
Dates refer to public announcements by the European Commission, the Council of the EU and NATO. Announced budgets can be delayed, reduced or redirected, and public spending does not guarantee returns for investors.
Investment universe
What the fund owns
Privately held companies based in Europe that earn a substantial share of their revenue from defence and security customers, across six capability areas.
Air and space
Components and systems for aircraft and engines, air and missile defence, satellites and secure communications.
Maritime
Naval combat systems, sonar, underwater systems and the protection of ports and subsea infrastructure.
Mobility and sustainment
Airlift, protected vehicles, logistics, maintenance and the supply chains that keep equipment in service.
Who we are
One firm, one fund
General Assets is preparing a single fund, Defensive Strategies, and nothing else. The fund is planned as a Luxembourg reserved alternative investment fund for well-informed investors, with a term to the end of 2040.
"Defensive" names the sector, not the risk level.
This will be a private equity fund concentrated in one industry. Capital is committed for years, cannot be withdrawn on demand and can lose value.
Exclusions
What the fund will not hold
Investing in defence carries responsibility. These limits will be written into the fund's investment policy and applied without exception.
- Weapons banned by international convention. No company involved in anti-personnel mines, cluster munitions, or biological or chemical weapons.
- Nuclear weapons outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty. No involvement in programmes of states that are not party to the treaty.
- Sanctioned parties. No company subject to EU or UN sanctions, or supplying embargoed destinations.
- Unlicensed exports. Holdings must sell under the export-control regimes of EU and NATO member states.
Insights
Understanding before investing
We publish educational guides so that clients can make decisions on their own terms. No forecasts, no product pushing.
Reading a Key Information Document
The three-page KID accompanies every fund sold to retail investors in the EU. We walk through each section and what to look for.
What the TER does and does not include
The total expense ratio is the most quoted cost figure in fund investing, and the most misunderstood. A short guide to the full cost picture.
Next step
Questions about the fund?
The fund is in preparation and not yet open for investment. We are glad to answer questions about the strategy and the planned terms.
Photo credits
EJ200 engine and Eurofighter Typhoon in flight: Julian Herzog, CC BY 4.0. NH90 helicopter: David Álvarez López, CC BY 2.0. Frigate FGS Sachsen: U.S. Navy, Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jacob S. Richardson, public domain. Aircraft at night: U.S. Air Force, Staff Sgt. Kevin Dunkleberger, public domain. All images via Wikimedia Commons, resized, cropped and darkened. Their use does not imply endorsement by any armed force, government or manufacturer, and the equipment shown does not indicate holdings of the fund.