Our clients
Caelo Group advises families and individuals at points where wealth, ownership and responsibility require careful handling.
Families
We work with families whose affairs have developed over time and now involve several assets, structures, family members and professional advisers.
A family may hold investments alongside business interests, trusts, property and charitable commitments. Different family members may have different roles and different expectations. The task is often to establish an orderly way of managing what is already there.
Caelo Group provides oversight across these matters. We work with the family and its advisers to review arrangements, organise information, establish reporting and prepare for decisions that affect more than one generation.
Areas of work
- Oversight of investments, assets and existing structures
- Coordination of legal, tax, accounting and fiduciary advisers
- Family governance and decision-making arrangements
- Preparation for changes in ownership or family responsibility
- Philanthropy and charitable structures
- Reporting for family members, trustees and committees
Sample mandate
Consolidating a family’s investment oversight
A second-generation family held investment portfolios with four separate managers in Canada, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Each manager reported in a different format and against different benchmarks. The family had no consolidated view of fees, liquidity, currency exposure or overall asset allocation.
Caelo Group was appointed to review the existing arrangements. We gathered information from each manager, prepared consolidated reporting and assessed the mandates against the family’s requirements for income, liquidity and long-term capital growth.
Following the review, the family retained two of its existing managers, appointed a new custodian and agreed an investment policy for future decisions. Caelo Group continues to attend manager meetings, review reporting and coordinate the family’s tax and legal advisers where investment matters affect the wider estate.
Entrepreneurs
Building a business often leaves little time for the wider affairs that develop around it.
Caelo Group advises founders and business owners before, during and after significant events: raising capital, selling a company, bringing in new shareholders, relocating, or beginning to separate personal wealth from the operating business.
We work alongside a client’s corporate advisers and management team, with particular attention to the matters that sit outside the transaction itself: personal holdings, family arrangements, investment of proceeds, tax, succession and philanthropy.
Areas of work
- Preparation for a sale, capital raise or change in ownership
- Review of personal and family holdings alongside business interests
- Coordination of transaction, tax and legal advice
- Investment planning following a liquidity event
- Family governance and ownership planning
- Establishing an ongoing family-office arrangement
Sample mandate
Financing the next stage of a manufacturing business
The owner of an established manufacturing company was preparing to expand production capacity and enter two new export markets. The company required additional working capital and investment in equipment, while the owner wished to retain control and avoid a sale of equity at that stage.
Caelo Group was engaged to assist with the financing process. We worked with the company’s finance director, accountants and legal advisers to prepare information for prospective lenders and investors, review the available funding options and coordinate discussions with selected providers.
Alongside the business work, we reviewed the owner’s personal borrowing and investment arrangements, which had developed separately from the company. The mandate remains focused on funding, ownership planning and the management of personal and business liquidity.
Inheritors
An inheritance can bring new responsibilities as well as new assets.
Caelo Group works with individuals and families where wealth is passing between generations, or where younger family members are beginning to take a more active role in investment, business or charitable matters.
Our role is to provide an informed, private setting in which the relevant issues can be considered. This may include existing trusts and entities, investment arrangements, family governance, tax advice, education and the role each person wishes to take over time.
Areas of work
- Review of inherited assets, trusts and existing arrangements
- Coordination with trustees, lawyers, tax advisers and investment managers
- Preparation for a future role in family ownership or governance
- Investment education and participation in family decision-making
- Charitable giving and involvement in family foundations
- Ongoing advice following bereavement or a change in family circumstances
Sample mandate
A next-generation family member taking responsibility
A member of the third generation was due to become a beneficiary of several family trusts and had been invited to join the family investment committee. They had received information from trustees and investment managers, but no single explanation of how the arrangements fitted together.
Caelo Group was asked to provide an independent review and coordinate discussions with the family’s existing advisers. We prepared a briefing on the trusts, investments and governance arrangements; arranged meetings with the relevant trustees, lawyers and investment managers; and helped establish a programme of involvement in future committee meetings.
The work gave the client a proper introduction to the family’s affairs while preserving the established role of trustees and other advisers.
Families with interests in more than one place
Caelo Group works with families whose assets, businesses and family members are spread across jurisdictions.
These mandates may involve a move of residence, an overseas business interest, family members living in different countries, or professional advisers working from several locations. From Paris and Montreal, we coordinate the advisers required for the matter and provide the family with a consistent point of contact.
Sample mandate
A family reorganising its affairs across jurisdictions
A family with members in Canada and Europe held private investments, residential property and trust interests in more than one jurisdiction. Different advisers had been appointed over the years, with separate reporting and no agreed process for family decisions.
Caelo Group carried out an initial review of the relevant structures and adviser relationships. We then coordinated the family’s legal, tax and fiduciary advisers, established consolidated reporting and assisted with the appointment of an investment committee.
The mandate remains ongoing, with Caelo Group overseeing adviser communication and supporting the family as circumstances change.
Begin with a private discussion
The right mandate depends on the family, the people involved and the matter requiring attention.
To arrange a confidential initial meeting, please contact our Paris or Montreal office.
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