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Alternative financing, understood as non-bank financing, significantly thrived after the great global financial crisis from 2007 as a response to the banking credit crunch and as a means to fix the excessive bank dependance companies faced. In this context, private debt - which until then was just an extension of private equity transactions - progressively earned its own identity as a new private and alternative asset class together with private equity. However, the so-called "Private Debt Funds" have been lacking their own regulatory framework in Spain until the enactment of Act 18/2022 on company foundation and development, which has amended Act 22/2014 on private equity entities. Such Act 18/2022 has, inter alia, created the concept of Closed-ended Loan Collective Investment Entities (CLCIE), which is not incompatible with other legal concepts that have so far offered a legal coverage to Private Debt Funds. This article dives into Private Debt Funds and briefly assesses the diverse legal concepts under which non-bank financing has been traditionally made available to corporates. In particular, it focuses on the analysis of the new CLCIE and their regulatory framework in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the aftermath of the 2007/2008 financial crisis, non-financial companies and households struggled with the credit crunch and the associated difficulties to get financing. This evidenced both the serious risks and limitations of a financial system excessively dependent on bank financing, and the need for alternative funding sources. Venture capital is undoubtedly one of the limited number of alternatives of non-bank financing and it has proven particularly relevant to support the growth of early and mid-stage SMEs and micro-enterprises for which it is hard to get financing via the capital markets and other non-bank sources. Public authorities have embraced venture capital as a significant financing source to fuel growth and job creation and have, to that effect, adopted over the last decade diverse measures to foster its development. This paper analyzes and reviews the measures that, both at regulatory and practical levels, have been launched in the European Union and Spain, a process still far from complete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent financial crisis has meant a reduction of the banking credit, and an increase of the level of indebtedness of companies and individuals. This, together with the constraints for the banks resulting from the new model of Basilea III and a progressive "un-bankarization" of the financial intermediation market, has led to a proliferation of debt funds, suppliers of shadow financing. This article describes, although generally and to a limited extent, the main requirements for the incorporation and management of a debt fund in Spain. The Act 22/2014 that regulates venture capital entities and other entities of collective investment of the closedend type, introduces a regulatory framework that generally will be applicable to debt funds, being these subject to requirements to start operating and of supervision. It will also be analyzed the possibility of venture capital entities to operate as debt funds or have a direct lending activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]