WE STARTED the turn of the decade on a sanguine note, when a novel coronavirus named “Covid-19” – which initially seemed to be just another headline in the news, among many others – escalated into a global pandemic that has since put the world on brakes, with numerous countries in lockdown and more than five million (and counting) confirmed cases worldwide.
Family offices stepped up borrowing against their private equity investments in the first quarter, moves made to increase their cash in the coronavirus crisis, according to UBS Group.
The purpose of a family office is to organize and centralize the management of a family’s personal and business financial affairs, and to maintain the financial house in as good an order as that of a well-run public company. The origin of the family office concept came from extremely wealthy families, and the family office was often a separate entity, with employees ranging from a CEO or CFO to a chief investment officer, along with a staff of bookkeepers and personal assistants.
