PERFORMANCE FEE EQUALISATION
When setting up a fund, one of the first decisions a manager has to make is the choice of fund structure. Partnership structures are very common in US domestic funds because they offer tax transparency to investors. Accounting calculations for partnership structures are relatively straightforward. Individual capital accounts are maintained for each partner and performance fees are calculated at the capital account level per partner. Therefore, there are no equalization issues for managers to contend with. In Europe, a combination of other fund structures is frequently used which requires calculations of per share/unit price. In calculating performance fees in these structures, the overriding concern among managers has been in determining how to fairly reward the manager for positive performance while at the same time ensuring investors are treated equitably. Essentially, this is where the various forms of performance fee Equalisation come in. One of t...