Yachting in Malta and Cyprus
The Yachting Industry in Malta and in Cyprus has two key facets; pleasure yachts and commercial yachts. The latter are usually used as part of a business activity and which have fiscal advantages for Malta and Cyprus shipping organisations. With regards to pleasure yachts in Malta, apart from a brisk registration process, Malta offers a favourable regime for vat minimisation, potentially down to 5.4%, through a leasing setup. Beyond the advantages that the registration process and the VAT yacht leasing presents, Malta offers yacht marinas which are situated all over the Maltese Islands, including facilities for super yachts. Facilities such as fuel bunkering, technical services for repairs and services, as well as access to luxury on-site facilities and immediate access to other off-site facilities are all readily available for yachtsmen.
Our Malta Yachting Team
With long-standing experience in the Shipping and Yachting industry, iCompany assists and represents individual or corporate clients throughput different stages of vessel ownership. This includes:
vessel sale and purchase
chartering and leasing agreements
setting up for VAT Yacht Leasing Structures
marine mortgages, or other forms of securities
discharge of mortgages
ship owning and ship management companies
registration of vessel
bareboat charter registrations
tax advice
With strong links with all sectors of shipping and maritime law and the specialised lawyers, accountants and tax consultants in all maritime-related fields of law, including ship finance, litigation and admiralty, iCompany stands as the maritime law firm of choice for banks, other financial institutions and ship-owners seeking the most effective and advantageous financing.
iGaming Law
Malta is considered to be one of the top jurisdictions for achieving a gaming license. This is due to a number of factors, which include the improved licensing process, Malta’s central location in the Mediterranean and its experienced multilingual force. Furthermore, we can contribute our success to a favourable corporate and gaming tax regime, low fees, reputability of the license and the advantageous European onshore business environment. Malta is also considered to be a hub for other forms of iGaming, such as digital gaming and the research and development related to it, gaming marketing, gaming software development and licensing.
Our expeditious team offers high-quality services for gaming operators. Through our trusted network of collaborators, we can directly assist with all that is necessary to set up and maintain a Maltese gaming operation in the parameters of the iGaming Law
Amongst others, our services include:
Gaming licensing and compliance
Key official (local director) services
International tax planning
Accounting
Company formation and administration
Payment systems, merchant other bank accounts
Bandwidth, web hosting and co-location
Website terms and transfer of technology agreements
Malta office location
Recruitment services and work permit
iGaming Law – Cyprus
Members of our iCompany House are active members in the Cyprus gaming advisory community; we are represented on the legal & Regulatory Workgroup, the Tax Work Group and the pressure Group of MRGC. We have undertaken legal drafting tasks in the area of regulated online gaming in prominent gaming jurisdictions. The Betting Act of 2012 regulates gaming in Cyprus and covers both land-based betting activates as well as online betting activities for which one requires a Class A and Class B License respectively.
Maltese Investment funds
Other factors contributed to the success in Investment Funds such as:
sound and sensible regulation which takes into account the needs of businesses whilst safeguarding the interest of investors
A low cost and favourable fiscal base which renders business models feasible where they would be unworkable elsewhere
An approachable regulator, willing to discuss innovative ideas whilst requiring compliance to the highest standards
Ease of access to the European market for investment
Quick application turnaround times
Flexibility as to the choice of service providers, e.g. local fund administrators not being required
Availability of self-managed structures
Sub-fund (protected cell company) legislation, permitting the creation of ring faced pockets of assets and liabilities within the same legal entity
Funds Managers are offered a variety of vehicles in Malta, which cater for a broad range of investment strategies to suit the needs of every type of investor. Most investment funds are structured as SICAVs, (investment companies with variable share capital) but can also be structured as an INVCO (Investment Company with fixed share capital), a unit trust, a contractual arrangement or a partnership. The legal structures serve as vehicles for a variety of funds type, including Professional Investment Funds, retail funds and private collective investment schemes.
The most popular investment fund type Malta offers is the Maltese Hedge Fund which forms part of the Professional Investor Fund (PIF). PIFs can only be sold to investors who have a minimum amount of investment and satisfy a number of criteria, PIFs are very flexible and thus can be used as a vehicle through which to conduct innovative or unorthodox investment strategies.
Maltese PIFs take three different forms to suit different types of investors. These are:
PIFs promoted to Experienced Investors (Experienced Investor Funds);
PIFs promoted to Qualifying Investors (Qualifying Investor Funds);
PIFs promoted to Extraordinary Investors (Extraordinary Investor Funds)
Our Investment Funds Practice
Our Investment Funds practice focuses on the structuring and setting up of funds and on-going advice after post- licensing stage. We help our clients with the drafting of regulatory documentation, including offering memoranda and ancillary agreements, and also manage relations with regulatory authorities. iCompany also offers its service to connect our clients with high quality personnel and service providers in the jurisdiction and also act as a primary reference point for all aspects of the project. We particularly focus on the creation of funds which follow unconventional investment strategies or structures.
Our Investment Funds Lawyers work hand in hand with other practitioners in the firm to provide an-all-inclusive package to our clients. Our lawyers are also responsible for the set up and maintenance of a large portfolio of investment services companies and funds where we assist the clients on various aspects, including the selection of the most favourable jurisdiction, choice of legal vehicle, and ensuring that such structures comply with all local company secretarial services for private and public companies, setting up of brick-and-mortar or online business operations assistance with the selection of external service provides, real estate advisory services and restructuring or redomicillation assistance.