The Financial Services Commission of Mauritius said in statement, published last week, that it had suspended both the firm’s CIS licence and its Investment Adviser (Unrestricted) licence with immediate effect.
It gave no official reason for the suspensions.
“In accordance with Section 27(5) of the FSA, the company shall cease to carry out the activities authorised under its licences but shall remain subject to the obligations of a licensee and to the directions of the FSC Mauritius until the suspension of the licences is cancelled,” it said.
Belvedere owned and managed several collective investment schemes in Mauritius, including a property fund, a distressed property fund, a hedge fund, and derivative funds.
According to the Mauritius FSC, a CIS manager holding one of its licences must have its place of business in Mauritius, be engaged solely in the business of management of CISs unless otherwise authorised, and maintain a minimum stated unimpaired capital of at least one million Mauritian rupees (£22,000, $26,900).
Regulators in motion
The licence suspension in Mauritius follows a series of regulatory investigations and actions against Belvedere-linked funds in other parts of the world over the past couple of years including in the Cayman Islands, Guernsey as well as Mauritius.
At one point Belvedere claimed to administer around 100 hedge funds and run several finance-related companies and has claimed in the past to manage or advise on $16bn (£13bn) in investments, for both institutional and retail customers.
On the 1 June last year, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority took over Brighton Segregated Portfolio Company (Brighton SPC), after the fund’s board of directors resigned following concerns that investors might not be able to access their assets.
Kijani Resources, which was also based in the Cayman Islands and owned by Belvedere Management Group, went into liquidation in June last year as well after the regulator took over Brighton SPC.
Belvedere’s bosses, Cobus Kellerman and David Cosgrove, have always denied all allegations of wrongdoing and criminal activity made against the group.
