Sark, Channel Island, United Kingdom
The Family Office Organisation, based in Sark, Channel Islands has just released the 3rd Edition of "The 3300 Global Family Office Database 2008", with 1800 entries from the USA and 1240 from Europe, with full contact details. The majority of Family Offices listed will have assets-under-management exceeding US$100m - US$100bn each. These extensively researched reports provide valuable details of the investment vehicles of the word's richest families: names of Chief Investment Officers, full postal addresses, email contacts and much more.
A Family Office is a small, intimate, centralised office of the "creme de la creme" in-house investment management team that manages and administers Family Investments, Family Trusts, Legal & Complex Tax Issues and the Family Foundation. The Family Office will also administer Family Members' domestic bill payments, arrangement of travel / private yacht / private aircraft and the purchase of luxury items like fine art and the acquisition of private residences etc. One would expect to see at least three - five family members sitting on the board of a single Family Office.
The goal of the world's ultra-rich families in establishing a Family Office is to ensure that their wealth is preserved for future generations of that family. The annual cost to manage a Family Office can exceed US$2m. However, assets - under-management would normally exceed US$500m and well into the US$Billions.
Family Offices started to evolve in the late 1800s - early 1900s on the sale of major family businesses during the industrial revolution. Instead of dividing the proceeds to the family siblings at that time, where the wealth would erode rapidly, early industrialists like the Rockefeller and Carnegie Families - to name but a few - were shrewd enough to think further ahead. European aristocratic families had similar set-ups, called Estate Offices; many are still in existence to this day. However at that time, as now, most European families were predominately major land owners.
Family Offices do not invest in the kind of retail financial products one finds on the High-Street. Like financial institutions, they invest in "High-Risk / High Return" investments and tend to retain a mixed portfolio of investments, primarily in alternative investments such as Hedge Funds, Private Equity, Bonds, Equities, Commodities (such as gold), Futures & Options and Currency Trading to justify a higher rate of return. Real estate investments and shareholdings will of course remain a key part of their portfolio.
Since 1989, The Family Office Organisation has researched the world's ultra-rich families in depth. Since 2005, this research has been more keenly focused on Family Offices for the benefit of financial institutions and fund managers across the globe. More information can be found on the Family Office Organisation website.
Source: Business Wire (Business Wire India)