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Leading private equity figure - Jon Moulton - endorses Guernsey

Posted: 06 May 2008

Guernsey is a great place to do business according to Jon Moulton, the founder and managing partner of Alchemy Partners.

Mr Moulton, who now lives in the Island, was the keynote speaker at the Guernsey Private Equity Funds Masterclass in London. More than 100 funds industry practitioners attended the event which was held in The Gallery at Old Billingsgate.

"I recommend any of you to use Guernsey for private equity - it works." he said, giving the domicile a warm recommendation.

Mr Moulton said that Guernsey has a solid infrastructure including not just fund administrators but accounting, tax and legal advisers who offered a personal service.
A major attraction is that Guernsey is "not flaky" but has sensible laws and regulations which are always updated quickly so that the Island is at the forefront of developments such as the introduction of new products and services. Mr Moulton also praised the speed of doing business in Guernsey by saying that "things happen at a pace which is inconceivable in the UK."

He added that Guernsey's taxation structure was straight forward and easy to understand and was noticeably more stable than the regime in the UK.

"Overall Guernsey is a nice place to operate," said Mr Mouton.

Mr Moulton said that the immediate prospects looked gloomy for the private equity industry as a whole. Guernsey's ability to continue to attract private equity and the business of other asset classes would ensure its sustained strength in the investment funds industry.

Speaking after the event Jim Gilligan, Chairman of GuernseyFinance, said: "The fact that such a respected figure within the industry should be so positive about the Island is a significant endorsement of Guernsey as a centre of excellence for private equity."

"I have in the past established private equity/real estate funds in Guernsey but never pure private equity funds however more recently my experience has been to act as an adviser to clients investing into Guernsey funds," said Dale Gabbert, Partner, Nabarro in London.

"This session has been very useful. Quite often these sorts of events are just about marketing but this was a helpful overview of what Guernsey can offer from a private equity perspective. It was very interesting and off the back of this I can see potential developments."

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