A family office is a private wealth management firm serving one or more ultra-high-net-worth families — an increasingly important allocator to alternative and special situations investments.
At CRAGSI, we define a family office as a private, dedicated wealth management organization that provides comprehensive financial services to one or more ultra-high-net-worth families — typically those with investable assets of $100 million or more. Family offices manage investments across asset classes, handle estate planning, tax strategy, philanthropic giving, and often non-financial services that conventional wealth managers do not provide.
Family offices come in two varieties: single-family offices (SFOs), which serve only one family, and multi-family offices (MFOs), which aggregate multiple families' assets to achieve economies of scale. The largest single-family offices are among the most sophisticated allocators in the world, with investment programs that rival those of major institutional investors.
Family offices are an important and growing constituency for CRAGSI. As alternative allocations have grown, family offices have become significant investors in private equity, venture capital, and distressed assets — facing the same challenges as other institutional investors when those assets become distressed or illiquid. Family offices also represent a potential source of rescue capital for distressed companies: some of the most creative restructuring solutions involve family office capital that moves faster and with more flexibility than institutional venture funds.
Related CRAGSI services: Turnarounds & Restructurings · Independent Fiduciary & Governance Services · Valuations