American Waterfall

This one is not written up yet

The definition above is the short version. A full explanation — how it works, a worked example and the exam traps — is still being written. In the meantime the chapter below covers it in context.

Written up from the same chapter

• Accredited InvestorAn investor certified by an accreditation agency as meeting SEBI's income or net-worth tests, and therefore allowed into products on relaxed terms — including below the Rs 1 crore AIF floor.
• Blind poolA fund in which investors commit capital to the pool rather than to named deals — the manager chooses the investments afterwards, which is why the subscription agreement must settle everything in advance.
• Catch up clauseThe waterfall step that pays the manager a set share — often 100% — of the profit left after investors receive their capital and hurdle, until the manager reaches its agreed share of total profit.
• CIV schemeA separate one-deal scheme of a Category I or II AIF through which accredited investors of that scheme co-invest alongside the fund in a single investee company, without a portfolio manager registration.
• ClawbackAn investor right to recover carried interest already paid to the manager on early successful exits, when later failed investments mean the manager was overpaid across the fund's whole life.
• Co-investmentInvestment by a manager, sponsor or investor of a Category I or II AIF directly into an investee company that the AIF is itself investing in, alongside the fund rather than through it.