In 2002 the Aureus Fund has been a pioneer in the gold market. Nowadays gold has established itself as an asset class of its own.

In Germany, however, the situation is very “tricky”. Since 2008, non-UCITS funds may not invest up to 100% in physical gold. That said, other precious metals such as silver, platinum and palladium have to be selected to garantee a high quote of physical allocated precious metals portfolio. 

This explains why no German Gold Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) can be found. Most funds are located in Switzerland. The Aureus is the only gold fund within the European Union.

Most Exchange Traded Commodities (ETCs) are issued in the legal form of a bond / certificate. These products have an issuer default risk. This risk has been eliminated with the Aureus Fund.

To give investors the opportunity to participate nearly 1:1 with the Gold price in Euro and to have the high security and confidence of a collective investment scheme structure, the Aureus Fund (Ireland) plc. was incorporated as an Irish “public limited company”. By way of legal comparison, the Aureus is seen as an “equity security” (and not a fund) in Germany (see above). Accordingly, the Aureus was grouped as an “equity security” by WM-Daten, the central data provider in Germany.

The German Authority (Bafin) does not view any product with more than 30% holdings in physical gold as a foreign investment UCITS vehicle in Germany. This means that all foreign funds (including the Swiss ETFs) are not deemed an “investment funds” in Germany.

The Aureus Fund (Ireland) plc. has found an imaginative solution through its legal status as an “equity security”.

It is strongly recommended that shareholders or potential shareholder obtain tax and legal advice from an appropriate source in relation to the tax liability arising from the holding in shares in the company and investment returns.