Asset class

Crowdinvesting in Malta

Crowdinvesting into Malta usually means a subscription for shares or bonds issued by a special purpose vehicle registered locally, with the platform acting as intermediary rather than custodian. What holds is the SPV's registration, not the platform's promise. When payments stop, the investor's claim runs against the vehicle and its register entry, not against the marketing site.

Register and custody layer

Malta requires most SPVs used for platform-based investment to be registered with the Malta Business Registry. That register shows directors, shareholders of record, and charges against the company's assets. It does not show subscription amounts, waterfall terms, or whether shares were validly allotted to the investor. A separate custody layer, often a nominee arrangement or a corporate services provider holding shares on trust, sits between the register entry and the investor's account statement. Where that custody layer is unclear, establishing what the investor actually holds becomes the first task, before any question of default is reached. The mechanics differ by asset class within this broader crowdinvesting and platform debt category, and the register-versus-custody split is the point specific to equity and bond-style crowdinvesting.

The document rarely handed over

Investors usually receive a subscription agreement and a platform-generated statement. What they rarely receive is a certified extract from the Malta Business Registry showing the allotment actually registered, or a register of members entry naming them as holder. Without that extract, a claim rests on the platform's own record, not on a verifiable corporate fact. Malta legalises such documents by apostille, in force since 3 March 1968 [N406], which matters once the extract needs to be used outside Malta, including before a foreign court or in arbitration.

What belongs in a pre-deal report

A pre-deal report checks facts that a marketing deck does not disclose. It confirms whether the SPV is currently registered and in good standing with the Malta Business Registry, whether the investor's name appears on the register of members or only on a platform ledger, and whether any charge or pledge has been registered against the SPV's assets ahead of the investor's claim. It also traces whether the subscription funds reached the SPV's account or stopped at an intermediary. Where redemption has already been missed, the same checks anchor a payment default review rather than a fresh assumption.

A paid initial assessment applies these checks to the specific SPV, platform terms, and correspondence on file, and states plainly what the register and custody layer actually show, without estimating what happens next.