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| The Family Office |
Surviving the Sale
Harvey D. Shapiro
12/01/2003
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The last thing Juan Meyer wanted to do was sell his family office to a soulless financial leviathan. But when he realized several years ago that Eagle Capital Management, the Greenwich, Conn.-based multifamily office he ran as CEO, needed to make a large investment in highly skilled human resources and technology in order to provide top-of-the-line financial services to its client families, he began to contemplate a merger.
"We did not want to be absorbed by another organization," says Meyer, who married into Eagle’s founding Wyman family. "But to ensure the viability of the office for the long haul, we wanted a partner." The choice would be crucial; Meyer feared the loss of Eagle’s hallmark personalized service and entrepreneurial spirit and culture.
 | Illustration by David Lesh |
Many of the nation’s 3,000-plus family offices face this conundrum. The economics of the business have prompted a host of family office mergers and acquisitions over the past decade (see sidebar). Hap Perry, CEO of Asset Management Advisors (AMA), a multifamily office based in Palm Beach, calls it "the jaws of death"—the squeeze many family offices face as they strive to deliver increasingly expensive wealth management services while, at the same time, family assets are diminished and progressively fragmented by taxes and inheritance.
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