The year 2018 saw a 37% jump in the number of worldwide single family offices to no fewer than 7,300. Altogether family offices manage assets of nearly 6 trillion dollars.
The survey of Campden Wealth shows that there upward of 7,300 single family offices operating across the globe: 42% in North America, followed by Europe with 32% and a further 18% located in the Asia-Pacific region. Average managed assets stood at 808 million dollar. Equities formed 28% of the average portfolio. Private equity accounted for a whopping 22% of portfolio investments, yielding an overall return of 18% for the year.
Impact investment is the trend
One of the biggest tendencies among single family offices is pretty hard to miss: their keen eye for sustainable investments. The young generation coming in to take over the helm chide the last generation (or two) for excessive focus on money as a goal in and of itself and are shifting the emphasis onto getting money to do something useful, and maybe of social relevance.
It’s a theme not only on the tongues of investors themselves but also confirmed by tax and accountancy firm PwC in their report entitled ‘Older and wiser: Responsible Investment coming of age? Private Equity Responsible Investment Survey 2019’. In it, they conclude that environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria have now moved out of their niche and joined mainstream thinking.
PwC say that family offices are good at turning socially responsible investment as an idea into real action, simply by speaking a language that everyone understands: when they decide to do it, they actually sit down and formulate an ESG policy, set aside the resources to give effect to it, keep sharp tabs on the portfolio, report as required and keep an eye on how the investments perform.