What is a Multi Family Office
Sachin Karpe, one of the founders of India’s largest Multi-family office shares his views on his business and expertise through this website. Family offices are entities that manage wealth of high net worth individuals (HNI) and ultra high net worth individuals (UHNI). They provide various services like tax planning, estate planning, lifestyle management, risk management, coordination of professionals for their clients; basically, customized service providers for clients. The trend in India is at an evolution stage. Sachin Karpe, who has pioneered the first such office in India, says that the products offered by multi-family offices are independent and more holistic than offered by wealth management firms.
When a family run business grows too big to be managed internally, the importance of a Multi family office comes in. Services of a multifamily office can come much cheaper compared the appointment of different managers for different family related business, which could be expensive.
In a growing economy like India, a lot of wealth got created in recent times. Adept Multi-family office advices its clients on relevant investment avenues based on the family’s requirements, making the entire proposition customized, explains Sachin Karpe. Family offices also help in non-traditional areas like succession planning and philanthropy which is not offered by other private equity funds. A group of professionals, provided by a Family office, oversees entire needs of the clients. The services exceed the lifetime of the client, ranging to several generations.
Talking about the fee structure, Sachin Karpe says that client fees usually depend on the percentage of assets under management (AUM) but a lot of it is also based on the fixed fee structure. However, in India, lots of clients are unaware of the value that multi-family offices can bring to their table due to lack of wakefulness. It is important for multi-family offices and clients to align their visions by understanding the needs and appropriating the right business model.