Family offices — the new private equity firms?

Are family offices the better private equity firms? Or is direct investment by family offices a temporary phenomenon that will soon be over due to the alleged lack of professionalism of family businesses? A wide variety of opinions prevail on this issue and are intensively discussed by the media as well as at conferences. In the following, after a brief introduction to the topic, we would like to provide an overview of our research findings on the topic of direct investments by family offices.

Family offices are only slowly turning to the field of direct investment, at least in Europe. Why is that? In contrast to the American market, family offices are a relatively new phenomenon in Europe. It is true that there were already noble families in the Middle Ages who had achieved wealth through trade and had it managed and increased in Family Office-like structures. However, these structures disappeared again into oblivion for several centuries, as corresponding asset management tasks were taken over by private banks.