SHARING Education II is a thesis you can visit: the fund finances the expansion of the International Sharing Schools group, an IB-curriculum school network founded by the Ladeira Santos family, with new schools and campuses planned in high-income areas of Portugal. It pairs one of the longest terms in the Golden Visa fund market, 12 years with a reported exit option after year 6, with some of the thinnest public disclosure: fees, fund size, target returns and service providers are all unpublished, and the key terms rest on a single aggregator.
Key takeaways
- Private equity fund scaling the International Sharing Schools network of IB schools in Portugal; launched in 2023 as the successor to SHARING Education I (2021), which developed campuses in Lisbon and Madeira.
- Reported terms, all single-source: €100,000 minimum (€500,000 for the Golden Visa), 12-year closed term, exit option after year 6, subscriptions open until 31 January 2027.
- Fees, fund size, target returns, custodian and auditor are not publicly disclosed for Fund II; the predecessor's terms are known but should not be assumed to carry over.
- Marketed as Golden Visa eligible, yet campus expansion touches property, and how the fund avoids the post-October-2023 real-estate exclusion is not publicly explained.
- No public information on US-investor acceptance or PFIC/QEF treatment.
What does SHARING Education II invest in?
Private international education, through a single operating group. The fund provides expansion capital to the International Sharing Schools network, which runs IB-curriculum schools in Portugal, to open additional schools and campuses in high-income areas. The group was founded by the Ladeira Santos family, who also stand behind the funds, so the founders sit on both the operating side and the fund side.
This is the second vintage. SHARING Education I launched in 2021 and developed campuses in Lisbon and Madeira; Fund II followed in 2023 to continue the roll-out. The strategy is about as tangible as Golden Visa investing gets: classrooms, campuses, enrolment. That tangibility cuts both ways. Returns depend on one sector and one school group succeeding, with none of the diversification a multi-company private equity portfolio would offer, and the family's dual role creates potential conflicts of interest that the offering documents should address.
The fund is managed by Lisbon-based Magnify Capital Partners SCR, with António Vieira da Silva as chairman and founder and Eduardo Ferreira as fund manager executive. Magnify also runs other vehicles in this database, including Magnify CERES II, which gives some sense of the firm's range beyond education.
What do the fees cost you over a Golden Visa hold?
Here the honest answer is that nobody outside the manager can tell you. No management fee, performance fee, hurdle rate, subscription fee or redemption fee has been published for Fund II, so the usual arithmetic, entry cost plus annual fees across a six-to-seven-year hold, simply cannot be run from public information. For a 12-year vehicle, that is a significant gap: even a modest annual fee compounds into a large sum over that horizon.
The predecessor offers context, nothing more. SHARING Education I's management rules disclose a tiered fixed management fee of 0.9% on a reference value up to €15 million, stepping down to 0.5% above €45 million, with a minimum of €108,000 per year, plus a 0.1% depositary fee. Fund I also had a maximum fund capital of €80 million. If Fund II's terms rhyme with those, the headline rate would sit below the typical 1.5-2% seen across Golden Visa funds. But that is an "if". The predecessor's terms should not be assumed to carry over, and the only way to know what you would pay is to request Fund II's management rules and read the fee clauses yourself.
Liquidity, the 12-year term and the citizenship timeline
The structure is closed-ended, with capital returned at term rather than through periodic redemptions. Directory data reports a 12-year term with an option to exit after 6 years, which would make this one of the longest-dated funds in the Golden Visa market. Neither figure is confirmed in fund documents, and the exit option's mechanics, whether there is a fixed window, how units are priced, and what conditions apply, are not published.
Mapped against the residence process, the duration is not the problem it first appears. Naturalization currently takes roughly six to seven years in practice, and the fund route requires a €500,000 investment held for at least five years, so a 12-year fund comfortably outlasts the process; you will never be forced to find a replacement qualifying investment mid-application. The reported year-6 exit option, if it works as described, would land close to the point where many applicants complete naturalization. The trade is flexibility: if the option proves narrower than reported, capital could remain committed for years beyond the visa's needs, and there is no secondary market to lean on.
The single most decision-relevant caveat is Golden Visa eligibility itself. School expansion inevitably involves campus property, and post-October-2023 rules exclude funds with direct or indirect real-estate exposure. The promoter markets the fund as eligible, and operating-company structures can be compliant, but how Fund II's property involvement is structured has not been publicly explained. Ask Magnify for its eligibility analysis in writing, and consider having independent immigration counsel review it, before subscribing on a Golden Visa basis.
What should US citizens check before subscribing?
Everything, because nothing is published. There is no public information on whether the fund accepts US persons, no statement on PFIC status, and no indication that QEF reporting would be provided. As a Portuguese closed-end fund it would ordinarily be a PFIC for US holders. Without an annual PFIC information statement, a QEF election is unavailable, leaving the default excess-distribution regime: gains taxed at top ordinary rates with an interest charge, which is punishing for a long-hold fund realising value late in a 12-year life.
IRA and self-directed IRA eligibility is likewise unknown. The checklist before wiring anything: written confirmation that US persons are accepted, written confirmation of whether PFIC reporting will be provided, and a US tax adviser's modelling of the QEF, mark-to-market and default scenarios against a 12-year horizon. FATCA reporting obligations will apply either way.
How does it compare with other Golden Visa funds?
On theme, it occupies a genuine niche. Most Golden Visa private equity funds hold diversified portfolios of operating companies; this one funds a single education group, closer in spirit to real-economy thematic vehicles such as the BlueCrow Portuguese Agrobusiness Fund than to generalist buyout funds. On duration, the reported 12-year term sits at the far end of the market, where eight to ten years is already considered long. On the minimum, the reported €100,000 is the standard entry point for the category, and on fees no comparison is possible because none are published. The wider field is on the funds database.
The honest positioning: a distinctive, visitable thesis with founder alignment, offered with less public documentation than most of its peers. Whether that trade appeals depends on how much diligence you are willing to do directly with the manager.
The unknowns
Listed for completeness; their weight depends on your situation and risk appetite.
- Registration and identifiers. No CMVM registration number or ISIN found for Fund II; the predecessor is CMVM #1722.
- Economics. Fund size, target size, all fees, hurdle rate and distribution policy are unpublished.
- Service providers. Custodian and auditor unconfirmed for Fund II; the predecessor used Bison Bank as depositary and BDO as auditor.
- Exit option. The year-6 exit's window, pricing and conditions are unverified.
- US posture. Acceptance of US investors and PFIC/QEF treatment unknown.
- Eligibility structuring. How campus and property exposure is structured relative to the Golden Visa real-estate exclusions is not publicly explained.
- Source thinness. Minimum, term and exit option all trace to a single aggregator; the fund's own site rendered no published terms at the time of research.
Next step
If a family-run education thesis in Portugal appeals and you are prepared to close the documentation gaps directly with Magnify, SHARING Education II is worth a structured conversation with the manager. Roots can walk you through the verification checklist, the eligibility questions to put in writing, and how the fund sits against its peers, independently and without a sales agenda. This is information, not investment, tax or immigration advice; capital is at risk, and residence outcomes are never guaranteed.
