Strategic guidance for family & investment offices
Translating family priorities into sustainable investment strategies
Over time, families build up liquid financial assets.
We help families to think through how and where to invest these assets to meet their financial and non-financial objectives.
We work with the family, governance and investment team to lay out the vision, and develop the investment statement, strategy and operating model.
Aligning Family & Investment Offices with family aspirations
Where a Family or Investment Office already exists, we can help ensure that performance is aligned with aspirations, and critique and build on the existing strategy.
There are many different strategies and different operating models. Your choice depends on the focus for asset classes, the scale of the office, and any desire to grow through third party capital.
We help you determine the range of services you would like to see the Family Office deliver and ensure clarity around the cost level, accounting and charging out for these services.
Your FO/IO strategy will influence your organisation and the talent required. We work with you to help design the target organisation and build a roadmap for how to evolve from your existing structure.
Overcoming execution & governance challenges
Even with a clear sense of direction, Family and Investment Offices frequently face challenges where scale limits the level of resources and impacts the retention of key employees.
Families often complain about the lack of clarity in the information they receive; too much or too little. For those less involved, there are questions around governance and decision making – especially when this involves family members.
We work with you to understand the principle’s aspirations, constraints and priorities. From that basis, we can help lay out strategic options and be specific about their pros and cons.
We use examples of other relevant Investment Offices to help us to illustrate alternatives. We are also fact-based and believe that numbers can help shed light on strategic options; where necessary, we bring them into the discussion.
Identifying and Appointing the Required Talent
Once the vision is clear and the strategic options decided, we work with you to ensure that the organisation and governance can deliver and oversee implementation and execution.
We help define the profile of talent that you require with a focus on Board, Investment Committee and key asset classes. If needed, we can assist you in selecting and coordinating external advisors.
Who we are
Independent strategic advisors to Owners
Acanthite Partners is an independent, specialist advisory firm dedicated to addressing the unique situations faced by family-owned groups. Our mission is to help families make the right decisions for their business and investments and protect their legacies for future generations.
We create lasting solutions, enabled by decades of experience and an intimate understanding of family dynamics.
CLIENT STORY
Upgrading corporate & investment governance in an SFO
The Principals of a substantial single family investment office sought to raise their governance standards to coincide with the appointment of a new set of directors. They aspired to match standards at much larger multi-family offices and wealth managers, without impeding their agile and entrepreneurial culture.
We worked with the Principals and Directors to fine-tune the responsibilities of each governance forum, with a particular focus on the interface between the Investment Committee and the Board.
Clear terms of reference were developed for each committee. Through a series of one-on-one discussions, we facilitated alignment on how each governance forum should operate in practice. The following cycle of board meetings was then engineered to reinforce the consensus around the overall governance system and each Director’s role within it.