DFSA-regulated · Category 4 Fund Administrator
Fund administration,
from NAV to investor.
Complete middle and back‑office for funds — accounting, NAV, transfer agency, investor services and regulatory reporting — across multiple jurisdictions, run by a boutique team that treats your fund like its only one.
9+
Jurisdictions
T + 5
NAV Turnaround
4-Eye
Quality Control
What it is
The financial engine room of your fund.
Fund administration is the independent middle- and back‑office that keeps a fund running — striking the NAV, keeping the books, servicing investors and satisfying regulators. Done well, it gives your LPs a reliable financial picture and frees you to focus on the portfolio.
When managers outsource
The moment it stops scaling in-house.
Reporting and audit demands are outgrowing the internal team.
A new structure, share class or jurisdiction adds complexity.
Back-office work is pulling leadership away from the strategy.
Investors want institutional-grade, independent oversight.
01 Core services
Everything the back‑office needs, in one team.
1 / 6
Fund accounting & NAV
Periodic and daily NAV strikes, general ledger, multi-currency bookkeeping, reconciliations, and fee and waterfall calculations — with a four-eye review before anything is published.
2 / 6
Financial statements & reporting
IFRS, SFRS and US GAAP financial statements, bespoke investor reporting packs, and audit coordination that turns year-end into a non-event.
3 / 6
Transfer agency & investor services
Subscriptions, redemptions and transfers, a maintained unitholder register, and a permissioned investor portal with real-time statements and documents.
4 / 6
Investor onboarding · AML / KYC
Investor due diligence, AML and KYC checks, and FATCA and CRS classification and reporting — onboarding handled to an institutional standard.
5 / 6
Capital calls & distributions
Drawdown and distribution processing, waterfall and carry calculations, and investor notices — accurate, on schedule, fully audit-trailed.
6 / 6
Regulatory & compliance reporting
Ongoing regulatory filings, DFSA and cross-border reporting, and the local-agent functions a regulated administrator is required to perform.
02 The DIFC advantage
Run a DIFC fund, without your own DFSA licence.
An external fund manager from an accepted jurisdiction can establish and manage a domestic DIFC fund without holding a DFSA licence — provided it appoints a DFSA-licensed fund administrator as its local agent. That’s where Spera comes in.
01
Local regulatory agent
We act as your agent with the DFSA, receiving and processing regulatory matters on the fund’s behalf.
02
Unitholder register
We maintain the official register of unitholders and keep the fund’s prospectus available to investors.
03
Your entry into the GCC
A faster, lighter route into DIFC and the wider Gulf — without standing up a regulated entity yourself.
03 How a NAV gets produced
A controlled cycle, every period.
Step 01
01
Capture
Trades, cash and corporate actions captured and reconciled to source.
Step 02
02
Price & value
Independent pricing across asset types and currencies.
Step 03
03
Calculate
Fees, accruals and the NAV per share class computed.
Step 04
04
Review & Report
Four-eye quality control and exception checks. NAV and statements released to managers and investors.
04 Who we administer
Built for alternative structures.
Private Equity
Specialized PE fund administration. Automated capital calls, waterfall & carry calculations, LP reporting portals, and IFRS/US GAAP financial statements.
View details
Venture Capital
Specialized fund administration for VC firms and SPVs. Streamlined capital calls, LP investor portals, portfolio valuations, and rapid NAV reporting.
View details
Private Credit
Fund administration for private credit and direct lending funds. Automated interest accruals, loan-level accounting, rapid NAV and LP distributions.
View details
Real Estate
Specialized fund administration for real estate funds, REITs, and SPVs. Complex property accounting, LP distribution waterfalls, and audit-ready NAV reporting.
View details
Hedge Funds
Hedge fund administration across 9 jurisdictions. Rapid T+5 & daily NAV strikes, multi-currency trade reconciliations, and incentive fee accounting.
View details
FAQs
Fund administration, explained.
01
What does a fund administrator actually do?
A fund administrator is the independent provider that runs a fund’s middle and back office: striking the NAV, keeping the fund’s books, producing financial statements, servicing investors through transfer agency, and supporting regulatory and audit requirements. It gives investors an independent, reliable financial picture of the fund.
02
Do I need a fund administrator to launch a fund in the DIFC?
For most DIFC fund structures, yes — and for externally managed funds it’s effectively required, since the manager must appoint a DFSA-licensed fund administrator as its local agent. Spera acts in that capacity, handling the regulatory, register and reporting functions the structure depends on.
03
Can a foreign fund manager operate in the DIFC without a DFSA licence?
Yes. An external fund manager from an accepted jurisdiction can establish and manage a domestic DIFC fund without holding its own DFSA licence — provided it appoints a DFSA-licensed fund administrator, like Spera, as its local agent. It’s a faster, lighter route into DIFC and the wider Gulf than standing up a regulated entity yourself.
04
What is NAV and how often is it calculated?
NAV — net asset value — is the per-share value of the fund, struck by taking assets less liabilities across every position and currency. Frequency depends on the structure: we run periodic or daily NAV strikes, each through the same audit-trailed cycle with four-eye review before anything reaches an investor.
05
What fund types and jurisdictions do you support?
We administer alternative structures — hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, real estate, private credit, digital assets, family office vehicles and qualified-investor funds — across 9+ jurisdictions, delivered as a DFSA-regulated Category 4 administrator.