Introduction to Family Offices

 

The first wave of single “Family Offices” were first formed in the 1800’s, predominately within America. The European Aristocratic Families had similar set-ups, commonly known as “The Estate Office” (Land Owners) which actually go back much further then the 1800’s.

Family Offices are effectively set-up to preserve and create wealth for both existing and future generations of the family.

The single “Family Office” is for the “Ultra-Rich Families” with net assets exceeding $500 Million and well into the $ Billions. Annual administration costs to run a single Family Office does not come cheap and will average between $1 Million - $3 Million. The Family Office would be professionally manned and would include a Chief Investment Officer, Fund Managers, Accountants and lawyers. One would expect several family members to sit on the board with an active role in the long-term future and direction of the Family Office. The Family Office will have several key in-house departments to handle areas of:

  • Estate –Trust and Tax Planning
  • Investment Management and Asset Allocation
  • Alternative Investments – Hedge Funds – Private Equity
  • Real Estate and Management
  • Legal Services
  • Philanthropy
  • Administrators to handle Travel Arrangements and Security etc

 

There is another option for “Ultra-Rich” families to invest and preserve their wealth and that is the “Multi-Family Office”.

There are several types of “Multi-Family Offices”

  • A merger of two or more single-family offices to reduce the administration costs. These tend to be close friends who have conducted business in the past with each other and have common goals of managing their wealth.
  • The Private Bank that has set-up a Multi-Family Office Arm.
  • Former Trust Companies. Especially from Switzerland have turned themselves into Multi-Family Offices.
  • Wealth Management Companies who have a track record of managing “Ultra-Wealth Families” whom have now turned themselves into a Multi-Family Office”.

 
Using the services of a “Multi-Family Office” are much more affordable as you can adopt specific services that are more prevalent to your families current and future needs.

Investments

Most Family Offices invest in an array of investment vehicles, such as:

  • Real Estate
  • Private Equity
  • Fund of Funds
  • Single Hedge Funds
  • Managed Accounts – Currency – Equities – Futures
  • Emerging Markets – Fixed Income Investments
     

Predominately Medium to High-Risk and on par with institutional investing in the global financial markets.

Family Offices are still not used enough by the global Hedge Fund community in raising capital for a new start-up Fund of Fund or a Single Hedge Fund, which still baffles us to this day. Family Offices are far more approachable to attracting new investment then the institutional investor Pension Funds and Insurance Companies.

We have researched the global “Ultra-Rich” since 1989. From June 2005, we have concentrated our research on Global Private Family Investment Offices, commonly known as (Family Offices).

From our attendance at the GAIM Conference 2005 in Lausanne, Switzerland, it became obvious to us that there needed to be other avenues to explore in relation to small / medium size Hedge Funds to raise capital for their respective funds.

There are three main areas that we are currently researching globally that will help small / medium size Hedge Funds and Private Equity Funds to raise capital:

  • Family Offices
  • Private Equity Family Investment Companies
  • Private Family Real Estate Investment Companies

 

Family Offices

No matter how much we invest in researching Family Offices Globally, we will never find them all. So, we need your help.

There are many Wealth Managers, Hedge Fund Managers and Private Banks who hold a small / large database of Family Offices.

You have heard of “The Pyramid” concept, if every company contributes in the supply of a Database of Family Offices, we will be able to offer you later, a substantial Global Family Office Database beyond your widest dreams.

It is a matter of logic and common sense.

Private Equity Family Investment Companies

There are a large group of “Ultra-Rich” families worldwide that have sold their family businesses and have set-up a Private Equity Family Investment Company rather then an old style (Family Office Structure). We have found that these families are still very much entrepreneurial, first and second-generation family members who feel more comfortable in investing within these parameters. Our own research has also shown that the professional infrastructure is on par with most recently formed (Family Office Structures). We also need help in locating these types of Family Owned Private Equity Companies. $750 Million - $1 Billion +.

Private Real Estate Family Investment Companies

Similar opportunities exist here like those from the Private Equity Family Investment Companies. Again, we would be very interested to hear from those who hold a database of family owned “Real Estate Investment Companies” with assets exceeding $750 Million - $1 Billion +.

Family Office Exchange

We want to expand our existing database of “Family Offices” and although we ourselves are extensively committed in our research, we also accept we will never unearth all the Family Offices globally. We need your help.

We accept there are NO free meal tickets !

  • If your company can offer us a database of Family Offices with Full Contact Details + Email, we will send you FREE of CHARGE a database of Family Offices (twice the size you send us).
  • If your company can offer us a database of Private Equity Family Investment Companies (Minimum Net Worth $750 Million - $1 Billion+) with Full Contact Details + Email, we will send you FREE of CHARGE a database of Family Offices.
  • If your company can offer us a database of Family Owned Private Real Estate Investment Companies (Minimum Net Worth $750 Million - $1 Billion +) with Full Contact Details + Email, we will send you FREE of CHARGE a database of Family Offices.
  • If your company can offer us a (Database of Email Addresses Only) that includes: Family Offices, Hedge Fund Managers, Fund of Funds, Top-End Wealth / Asset Management Managers, Private Equity Managers, Managed Funds of Currency, Futures and Equities Managers, we will send you FREE of CHARGE a database of emails of similar size and quality.

 

Jamie Bates
Head of Marketing
Telephone:  +44  7781  455  960
www.luxury-international.org