I’m new to the Golden Visa opportunity, and though i’m decided on Portugal, I don’t quite understand what the market is offering as i’m hearing many opposing rings when it comes to Real-estate funds VS VC funds.
On the one hand i see everywhere that any funds related to real-estate any-which-way won’t be allowed to continue their activities, and that most likely my Visa would get rejected before completion, and on the other hand, when I therefore turn to VC funds, I am told that many of these funds are too capital-risky and not competitive enough when compared to real-estate / transitioning funds in the market.
Would someone please shed some light on this topic, i would be most grateful.
Funds that are invested in real estate are no longer eligible, although no-one’s exactly sure what that means - further regulations may provide more clarity in due course. For instance, there are funds invested in farmland and the provision of student accommodation that seem to be in the clear.
Other than that, you have
(a) non-real estate VC funds invested in companies/projects of various types and size
(b) open-ended equity funds that vaguely track the Portugal PSI20 index (and therefore hold a lot of oil and gas companies, electrical utilities and supermarkets. The two most commonly mentioned are IMGA Portugal and BPI Portugal
Only you can determine which meets your risk tolerance. One advantage of the equity funds is that you can exit when you like, which may be a benefit given the long process (8-10 years) and unpredictable timeframes.
Hi Chris, Thanks for your swift reply, most appreciated.
If i may then, there are a two questions i have on your points.
How can the leasing of student housing not be directly real-estate related ? I understand you mention that we will have clarification on this issue through upcoming news but if i understand correctly the regulations fall more on the notion of Construction, rather then real-estate management. Is this a fair appraisal Chris ?
As for the Open-ended equity funds, you can therefore invest in the fairly safe PT stock market and whenever I’d want to, ie: potentially when the passport is issued, I could pull out my capital invested, correct ?
On (1), I’m no expert - I think @beanieskis on here works at one such fund, and may be able to clarify.
On (2), yes exactly. Of course, like any equity investment you are at risk of price swings. BPI Portugal fell 67% peak-to-trough in the five years from mid-2007 to mid-2012, through the global financial crisis and the subsequent eurozone debt crisis, but it’s up 166% since the low.
Curious to learn more about the veracity of the RE funds’ scopes, and glad to learn more about the PSI20- based Equity funds.
I’ll however keep an eye out for VC funds as well though because i’m intrigued about what i read here on the acceptable IRR expectations in the GV space for startups VCs. thanks
We do not think it likely our student accommodation fund qualifies under the new rules, as it owns companies that own and operate real estate. That said, the industry view seems to be that once the dust has settled and there is some clarity on what does and does not qualify, then perhaps it has a chance due to the operational business nature of running student accommodation buildings. Will have to wait and see, I know some of the bigger managers with similar funds are looking at this in detail.