Governance
Family councils, charters, family businesses and the dynamics that hold families together.
A Partners Group founder is carving out his own unit inside the shared family office
Urs Wietlisbach is creating an independent investment arm within PG3 AG, the family office shared with his two co-founders since 2013. Succession planning is the stated reason.
Family governance that actually holds
Most family constitutions gather dust. What separates governance that actually holds a family together from the borrowed templates that quietly fail.
What belongs in a family charter
A family charter is only worth the behaviour it changes. What to put in one, what to leave out, and why the drafting matters less than the conversation.
Philanthropy: foundation, donor-advised fund, or direct
The vehicle is the easy part. The harder question is what the family is actually trying to change, and who decides.
The Issa brothers split their empire. One keeps Asda, the other takes the forecourts.
Mohsin and Zuber Issa, who together bought Asda for £6.8 billion, have divided their business interests. One is stepping back; the other is eyeing a US IPO.
Family councils and meetings that work
Most family meetings are either rubber-stamping or warfare. What separates a family council that holds real decisions from one that meets, minutes and changes nothing.
The Hinduja conviction: 18-hour days, confiscated passports, and a Geneva court that acted
Four members of the Hinduja family were convicted in Geneva for exploiting domestic staff at their villa. The sentences range up to four and a half years.
The week in family offices
One email a week: what moved across family offices and private wealth, and what it means.