Friday 3 August 2012

Richard Cayne & The Meyer Group On Offshore Investing

Offshore investing simply means that wherever the respective fund or investment is formed and registered is in a low tax area such as Ireland, Malta, Isle of Man, Hong Kong or Singapore to name a few.  This does not mean that investors have no tax obligation as they may dependant on where they reside but rather offshore investing can offer investors some significant tax planning opportunities to minimize their taxes.  In addition many clients who want a higher level of discretion and confidentiality can also make use of offshore investing not to hide assets but rather to shelter them from being public information and in turn a target to go after.  Many celebrities and public figures recognize this and is the number 1 reason they look to offshore investing using trust structures offshore.

Offshore domiciled investments also do not have the extra costs associated with certain registration requirements which certain countries may have.  For example registering a fund for sale in the US or Japan can be extremely costly and time consuming and as such many fund companies do not take the steps to register these funds in certain countries.  Though if they want to market their funds in a respective country they may need local registration.  Richard Cayne of Meyer Asset Management Ltd has been helping securities firms in Japan with information on offshore funds and fund registrations.  The time it may take to do a full blown registration for mass distribution in Japan can be up to a year and cost upwards of US$500,000 which is why many fund companies hesitated to jump into domestic registrations until there is sufficient demand by the local customers to merit such registration.

There are great funds out there managed by US and European based fund managers who have also chosen to set up an offshore feeder fund so that internationally based clients can invest cross border into their investment without the need to treat them as foreign investors and withhold tax as foreign investors would normally need pay.  Instead the offshore feeder fund would be able to on tax efficient basis aggregate money into the onshore fund.  Most of the largest fund companies in the world have offshore funds as well as their onshore ones.  Fidelity, Templeton, Blackrock to name a few all have offshore funds.  In fact these days if you don’t have an offshore fund as a fund management company then you aren’t a global player so instead of the exception it is now the rule to have offshore funds as a fund management company.  Clearly this is done out of demand and to be able to raise money internationally.  Most Japanese securities firms in Tokyo see the need to be more global and go offshore these days says Richard Cayne from Meyer International Ltd.

Still many have the preconceived idea that offshore investing is for those who want to hide from the tax man which is today a myth as any tax office can pretty much gain access to your information if they want to.

Richard Cayne at Meyer International Ltd in Bangkok Thailand has been consulting with clients around the world and most individuals that look for offshore investments simply are interested in diversification of their assets and are opportunistically looking for good investments.

Investing offshore for the right reasons can certainly offer many advantages and working with a financial professional who can advise you on the options and opportunities that exist offshore is a recommended first step.

Meyer Asset Management Ltd like Meyer International in Bangkok Thailand form part of the Meyer group which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Asia Wealth Group Holdings Ltd listed on the PLUS Stock exchange in London UK.

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