Europe's fund structures compared: UCITS, AIF, ELTIF and RAIF
A fund's legal structure decides most of what matters to an investor before a single holding is chosen: who may buy it, how easily you can sell, who checks the manager, and what you are told before you invest. This report compares the four labels a European investor meets most often (UCITS, AIF, ELTIF and the Luxembourg RAIF) and explains what each one promises and what it does not.
Key takeaways
- UCITS are the EU's retail fund standard: diversified, liquid, authorised by a regulator, and sold across the EU with a Key Information Document.
- Everything else is an AIF. The EU regulates the AIF's manager closely, but the fund itself may be lightly regulated and is mostly reserved for professional investors.
- An ELTIF is a regulated AIF for long-term assets that may be sold to private investors, with suitability checks and limited liquidity.
- A Luxembourg RAIF is not approved by a regulator itself; the protection lies in its authorised manager and depositary, and it is open only to well-informed investors.
Why the structure matters
Two funds can own similar companies and still offer very different protections. The structure determines:
- who may invest: anyone, professionals only, or investors who meet a minimum amount or experience test;
- liquidity: whether you can sell your units back to the fund daily, a few times a year, or not until the fund ends;
- supervision: whether a regulator approves the fund itself, only its manager, or neither;
- diversification and borrowing: whether the law limits concentration and leverage, or leaves it to the fund's own rules;
- information: which documents you must be given, and in what standard format.
The full report
For subscribers
The full report continues with 9 more sections, with all tables and the data behind them as CSV files for Excel. It is part of the General Assets Research Group subscription:
- UCITS: the retail standard
- AIF: everything that is not a UCITS
- ELTIF: long-term investments for private investors
- RAIF: Luxembourg's reserved fund
- The four structures side by side
- What this means for an investor
- Questions to ask about any fund
- Frequently asked questions
- In summary
Sources
- Directive 2009/65/EC on undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS). EUR-Lex
- Directive 2011/61/EU on alternative investment fund managers (AIFMD) and amending Directive (EU) 2024/927. EUR-Lex; EUR-Lex
- Regulation (EU) 2015/760 on European long-term investment funds and amending Regulation (EU) 2023/606 (ELTIF 2.0). EUR-Lex; EUR-Lex
- Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 on key information documents for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPs). EUR-Lex
- Luxembourg law of 23 July 2016 on reserved alternative investment funds; CSSF guidance on fund regimes. CSSF