The family collapses under the weight of history

This is the kind of advertising is would be well past the small world of the "family officers" is French. These super consultants-managers, guarantors of the prosperity and tranquillity of a few thousands of wealthy families of the Hexagon, were the horror scandal. This is what can they inspire the revelations and twists almost daily of the Bettencourt case, in which society Clymene, which manages a part of the fortune of the heir of l ' Oréal, is now playing roles. This family drama, which turns large unpack and erode a heritage, is precisely one of the pitfalls that seeks to avoid the profession. According to the definition of the French Association of family offices (Affo), a structure of this type was instead intended to ensure "harmony and the interest economic families" in an inter-generational vision

A roadmap sufficiently vague to attract the appetites of many actors, eager to capture customers in very high potentials. Born in the United States at the end of the 19th century, at the initiative of the Rockefeller to manage their heritage, the family offices are in reality little developed in France. Their number is rather close to 100, from the approximately 3,000 American actors. But their discretion, pledged to the trust of their customers, maintains a blur on their activities, which is conducive to misunderstanding. How to make the difference between several professionals sharing the same objective: take care of the interests of the major families

Exercise of balancing act

"One of the first missions of the office family is to organize the family patrimony to match its economic objectives with its revenues and its train of life", explains Christophe Achard, founder of Intuitae, multi-family independent office. Fortunes that create today come mainly from disposals of businesses by their aging founders. The result of these operations while consistently landed on a bank account, but its use beyond the skills of a private banker. How to organize the transmission of this heritage A notary will be necessary. When the heirs live in different places of the globe, there however himself hard to identify tax issues of the record. How, for example, avoid disadvantage children living in the country where taxation is the heaviest This kind of issue is the responsibility of a tax professional. Another case: a customer may wish to devote a portion of his fortune to a charitable project. A specialist in the subject will have to intervene. This is the value of a family office: "It is a conductor that defines with the client the work that he wants to hear playing," summarizes Jérôme Barré, tax lawyer with Franklin. A support for him to select good instrumentalists and control the exact place of their partition.

The main issue is however in the drafting of this partition, because it must take into account the sensitivities of each and the other. This balancing act is at the heart of the business of a family office. "The family collapses under the weight of history." "Absorb, to integrate its circle and its values", insists Jérôme Barré. When a client contacts a family office for the first time, it is most often focused on the management of its financial assets. Counsel cites the case of this quinquagénaire inheriting EUR 200 million in securities of a large company. Wishing to prepare his estate, she proceeded to donations-partages for the benefit of his three children, while retaining a substantial portion of its assets. Since then, his two sons and daughter appear very different management strategies, making him fear a rapid decrease in pay sent initially. One believes hard as iron in the progression to infinity of its actions, the second boursicote with the hope of gaining more and more, while the third is scrambled with the rest of the family and is reluctant to manage its property. When listening to one another and others, the family office in charge of this file is managed to convince each of the interest of better manage this heritage. In General, it must be said that the prospect for lower management costs makes everyone agree... As less enthusiasts of finance, they realize the need to diversify their investments to mitigate the risk. One example of benefits these "shops" custom top of range.

Family governance

His first success, the office family can blend into the family landscape. "It is only from the time when the trust relationship is established families posed questions that bored," observes Bernard Camblain, founder of the Affo and member of the Executive Board of Meeschaert Family Office. When this is the case, the perimeter of these structures of Council expands, and family governance issues are added to issues related to the heritage organization. For family groups the wealthy and the most numerous, especially for those who have an industrial assets, the problem is more to ensure revenues. It is to ensure that each finds his account, not to jeopardize the overall unit, the safer barrier to dispersal of the family patrimony.

Typical example: in this family business in the innumerable ramifications, including the capital is passed under the control of a minority branch, through complex alliances. All the mechanisms of decisions were suddenly blocked without vision. The conflict grew bitter. The General Director of the company, grandnephew of its founder, feels the soul of a clan Chief, whose decisions cannot be challenged. The family shareholders, it is the wedge. There are those who feel excluded and accumulate grievances, those who are considering to sell their shares to develop their own projects... "If there is no affectio familiae, society may implode." "Insulting his cousin is more devastating to insult someone," analysis Jérôme Barré.

Philanthropic Binder

The art of family office is to maintain or even strengthen this family cement in ensuring that communication going on between all members of the family. Thus, a family officer tells how he is taken to plan for one of its clients for the holiday in its various properties in the world, to force the four generations of his family to meet regularly and to enter into a joint reflection. In this area, philanthropy is a powerful "binding" family. Disconnected power issues related to the management of industrial projects of this type are an area of freedom, more and more popular, where each finds its place. All the more attractive investments that they have a few years of tax benefits. Mulliez, symbol of family governance successfully in the world of the family office, family foundations and flowered. "The Mulliez family is today composed of eleven families descending my great-grandparents, Louis, Marguerite," said Christophe Mulliez in "The new philanthropy", a book by Virginia Seghers (1). More than 500 shareholders descendants are responsible for signs also known as Auchan, Decathlon, Saint-Maclou, Boulanger and Leroy Merlin. "If, for shareholders, we"all in all", all shareholders with the same basket of shares, it is individual independence which dictates the philanthropic choices." "Each decides according to his taste, his beliefs, works that he will support", he says. Himself presides over the link, association specializing in philanthropy Council, likely to serve and strengthen the affectio societatis of shareholders of different family signs. A way of closing the loop...

The protean nature "family office is designed to remain high range crafts", summarizes François Mollat du Jourdain, founder of financial MJ, multi-family independent office. High-end no doubt: the services of such a structure cost between EUR 50,000 and EUR 2 million per year, not counting the cost of external expertise to which the family offices are. What make the contemptuous families. Or specific edges, is craft indeed not pay in expensive amateurism "It's a profession in itself requires a methodology dedicated, slice Christophe Achard.". We sell to each customer a team of three or four people whose roles are clearly defined in all our fields of intervention. "This work allows to show him the added value that we bring him," he continued. Its members are convinced: the future of the sector through its professionalization. Thus, the Affo launched three working groups to strengthen the skills of its members in governance, education and philanthropy. Their findings should be presented on 18 November, at the General Assembly of the association. On that date, a new Charter should also define the territory of the family offices. An additional way to sort the wheat from the chaff.