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Financial Services

Sovereign Investment Platforms from a Premier Neutral Jurisdiction

Mauritius offers sovereign entities and Sovereign Wealth Funds a politically neutral, legally credible, and strategically positioned platform for long-term investment activities across Africa, Asia, and global markets.

Overview

Why Mauritius for Sovereign Capital?

Sovereign Wealth Funds and sovereign investment entities seek jurisdictions that combine legal certainty, political neutrality, regulatory credibility, and strategic positioning. Mauritius delivers all four, with a respected common law framework, a broad DTAA network covering 45 jurisdictions, FSC oversight aligned with international standards, and geographic positioning at the crossroads of Africa and Asia.

Aurevya provides specialist advisory to sovereign entities seeking to establish investment platforms, holding structures, or fund management operations in Mauritius, including the design of customised governance frameworks that meet the Santiago Principles and OECD governance standards expected of sovereign capital.

We understand the unique requirements of sovereign clients, the need for complete discretion, bespoke governance that reflects sovereign mandates, and structures that satisfy both the home government's expectations and the investment counterparties' due diligence requirements.

Political
Neutrality
Mauritius is a politically neutral jurisdiction with no geopolitical tensions, providing sovereign investors with a credible, non-controversial base from which to hold investments across Africa, Asia, and global markets.
45+
DTAAs
Mauritius maintains one of Africa's broadest Double Tax Avoidance Agreement networks, providing treaty access to key investment destinations across Africa, Asia, and the Indian Ocean region for sovereign investment platforms.
Santiago
Principles Aligned
Aurevya designs governance frameworks aligned with the Santiago Principles and OECD standards, enabling sovereign capital to demonstrate the transparency and accountability standards expected by international counterparties.

What We Provide

Key Features

Sovereign Investment Platform
Design and establishment of the optimal Mauritius vehicle for sovereign capital deployment, holding company, fund structure, or management platform, configured for the sovereign's investment mandate, governance requirements, and target markets.
Neutral Jurisdiction
Mauritius's political neutrality, common law framework, and international reputation provide sovereign investors with a non-controversial platform that avoids the geopolitical sensitivities that can arise from using offshore centres with complex international profiles.
Governance Frameworks
Bespoke governance documentation, investment policy statements, board terms of reference, investment committee mandates, and reporting frameworks, designed to meet both the sovereign's home government expectations and the OECD governance standards expected by international counterparties.
Santiago Principles
Governance frameworks aligned with the Generally Accepted Principles and Practices for Sovereign Wealth Funds (Santiago Principles), demonstrating transparency, accountability, and sound governance to the international investment community and facilitating access to co-investment opportunities.
Treaty Network
Structuring investment platforms to optimise the benefit of Mauritius's DTAA network, reducing withholding tax on dividends, interest, and capital gains from investments in treaty partner jurisdictions across Africa and Asia.
Discretion & Confidentiality
Mauritius provides a legal framework that supports confidentiality for sovereign investors, with professional confidentiality obligations on service providers and a regulatory framework that balances transparency with the legitimate privacy expectations of sovereign capital.

Process

How It Works

01
Mandate & Governance Design
We work closely with the sovereign entity to understand the investment mandate, asset classes, target geographies, return objectives, risk parameters, and governance requirements, designing the structure and governance framework before any regulatory or legal steps are taken.
02
Structure Selection
Selection of the optimal Mauritius structure for the sovereign mandate, GBC holding company, FSC-regulated fund, asset management platform, or a combination, considering tax efficiency, regulatory requirements, governance flexibility, and the expectations of investment counterparties.
03
Regulatory Engagement
Where required, engagement with the FSC on the proposed sovereign investment structure, including any licence applications, regulatory notifications, or pre-application engagements required to establish the platform on a sound regulatory basis.
04
Legal & Tax Framework
Preparation of the legal documentation and tax analysis underpinning the sovereign investment platform, constitutional documents, shareholder agreements, investment policy statements, and analysis of the DTAA benefits available for the target investment programme.
05
Platform Launch
Coordination of the full platform launch, corporate establishment, banking setup, management appointment, governance framework activation, and initial operational procedures, ensuring the sovereign investment platform is operational and ready to deploy capital efficiently.
06
Ongoing Governance
Continuous governance support, board and committee meeting management, investment reporting, regulatory filings, annual accounts, and governance framework review, ensuring the sovereign platform continues to meet the highest standards of operational governance throughout its investment programme.

Practical Considerations

Requirements & Timeline

Structural Requirements

  • Bespoke structure depending on the sovereign mandate, no single template applies
  • FSC engagement as required by the chosen structure
  • Governance documentation aligned with international sovereign investment standards
  • Investment policy statement approved by the home government authority
  • Qualified management, investment professionals with relevant mandate expertise
  • Annual reporting framework, financial statements, investment performance, ESG metrics

Indicative Timeline

  • Mandate & Governance Design: 4–8 weeks, the depth of sovereign governance requirements means this phase requires more time than standard commercial structures
  • Corporate & Legal Establishment: 3–6 weeks for holding structures; 8–16 weeks for FSC-regulated fund or management structures
  • Regulatory Review (if applicable): 12–20 weeks, sovereign investment platforms may attract additional FSC engagement given their scale and profile
  • Platform Launch: 3–6 weeks post-establishment for banking, management appointment, and operational activation

Common Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Mauritius offers a combination of attributes that few other jurisdictions can match for sovereign investment purposes. Political neutrality, Mauritius has no geopolitical tensions and is not associated with any particular bloc or power, making it acceptable as an intermediary jurisdiction for investments across diverse geographies. Legal credibility, the common law framework, independent judiciary, and OECD-aligned regulatory standards provide legal certainty that investment-grade counterparties require. Strategic positioning, at the intersection of Africa and Asia, Mauritius is geographically and commercially positioned for investment flows into Africa's fastest-growing economies. Treaty network, 45+ DTAAs provide structuring flexibility unavailable from most alternative jurisdictions. These factors, combined with a sophisticated professional services sector and Aurevya's specialist sovereign advisory capability, make Mauritius the preferred choice for discerning sovereign investors.
The optimal structure depends on the sovereign's investment mandate, governance requirements, and target markets. Common structures include: a Global Business Company (GBC) as a holding and investment vehicle for direct investments; an FSC-regulated closed-end fund or Variable Capital Company for managed portfolio programmes; a GBC investment management company holding FSC licences for active portfolio management; and combinations of these structures for sovereign platforms with multiple sub-mandates. Each structure carries different regulatory, governance, and tax implications, and the selection requires careful analysis. Aurevya's sovereign advisory team has experience with a range of sovereign investment structures and will identify the approach best suited to the specific mandate.
The Santiago Principles (Generally Accepted Principles and Practices for Sovereign Wealth Funds) set out 24 governance principles covering legal framework, institutional framework and governance structure, and investment and risk management frameworks. Aurevya maps each Santiago Principle to the specific governance documentation and operational procedures required for the Mauritius sovereign investment platform, including the investment policy statement, board governance terms of reference, investment committee mandate, risk management framework, and reporting requirements. The result is a governance framework that the sovereign can present to counterparties, co-investors, and its own home government as meeting the internationally accepted standard for sovereign investment governance.
Mauritius maintains DTAAs with over 45 jurisdictions, including key African investment destinations such as Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, and Senegal, as well as India, China, and other Asian markets. Benefits available under these DTAAs typically include reduced withholding tax on dividends, interest, and royalties from investments in treaty partner jurisdictions, which can significantly reduce the overall tax leakage on a sovereign's investment portfolio. The DTAA benefits available depend on the specific treaty and the nature of the sovereign entity, Aurevya's tax advisory team analyses the applicable treaty network for each sovereign mandate and structures the investment platform to optimise treaty access.
Aurevya understands that sovereign clients have heightened confidentiality requirements, both for operational security reasons and to manage the political sensitivities that can arise from disclosure of sovereign investment activities. We apply strict information barriers within our team, limit knowledge of sovereign mandates to the specific advisers directly engaged, and operate under bespoke confidentiality agreements tailored to each sovereign client's requirements. The Mauritius legal framework imposes professional confidentiality obligations on licensed service providers, providing a legal basis for the confidentiality protections that sovereign clients require. We advise on structuring the platform to minimise publicly available disclosure while maintaining full compliance with Mauritius's legal and regulatory transparency requirements.

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We work discreetly with sovereign entities to structure and administer their Mauritius-based investment vehicles.

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