SICAF

A “Société d’investissement à capital fixe” or SICAF is a category of Swiss limited liability company with fixed capital which operates entirely as a joint-stock company.

SICAFs must be approved by FINMA before they can begin operating. This category of company is reserved for investment companies, and is used primarily by closed-end investment funds.

A SICAF is not allowed to issue preference shares, voting shares or any other share or certificate which grants special rights to certain shareholders. For a SICAF to be approved by FINMA, it must be audited by an external auditor and its assets must be held by an external custodian bank. A SICAF must be able to issue a minimum of 500,000 Swiss francs worth of fully-cash-funded shares at the time of its founding.

As opposed to a SICAV, which can have variable capital reserves, the capital of a SICAF must be fixed and remain intact throughout its existence.

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