Who we are
Blu Family Office was founded in 2010 to manage the assets and affairs of a single family. Since 2012, we have been mandated to help others protect, invest and grow their wealth.
The Principals have first-hand, multi-generational experience in managing family wealth.
We provide investment management solutions and advise on tax strategy, according to the bespoke needs, jurisdictions and wishes of our clients.
The Journey
The wealth of the founding family was created through manufacturing and trade. When the Patriarch retired, the money was given to various private banks to manage. There, the assets remained for some 20 years, until the second generation was asked to look after the wealth.
With an advanced education in finance and investment expertise acquired through managing money for investment banks, the heirs were perfectly suited for the task at hand. We started by reviewing the value chain of advisors and service providers we had relied on to implement our family’s investment strategy for the past two decades.
A thorough analysis revealed there was no centralised risk management and we were incurring excessive fees. Therefore, we decided to set up our own office to manage our wealth. The aim was to extract cost savings and gain better control of our risk exposure, by integrating all investment and administrative functions.
We developed a risk-based investment strategy and built the necessary technology, infrastructure and operating processes to efficiently manage the assets. We began trading in 2011. Shortly thereafter, another family identified with our journey and asked whether we could provide them with the same service.
We began managing external assets in 2012 and have since expanded our scope and services, as other families and clients have joined us. We continue to develop further investment strategies and provide comprehensive wealth advisory services, including structuring, planning and behavioural risk management.
Today, Blu is a multi-family office, with expertise in investment and wealth management. We share our capabilities with other like-minded families to protect and grow wealth for the next generations, whilst ensuring all interests are aligned.
What we do
When investing, to make returns you have to take risk. That also means, when you take risk, you make returns. The aim is not to take too much of the same risk or overpay for the risks we take on.
There are only two basic forms of risk. Either you speculate on price and the risk is the value of an asset changing, or you are lending to someone and the risk is the borrower's ability to pay back the loan.
Most investment managers use equities and bonds to get exposure to price and credit risk. Some also use so-called alternatives in an effort to further diversify. Prevailing wealth management models try to predict how equities, bonds and alternatives will perform, to then invest accordingly.
This approach has two underlying fallacies. Alternatives, as broadly defined, can carry the same underlying risks. Furthermore, one cannot accurately and consistently predict future asset prices.
Our methodology is to break down the entire investment universe according to the different forms of credit and price risk. By investing in all the different underlying categories of risk, you are truly diversified and can manage your investment positioning very precisely.
Whereas many people spend time trying to predict the unpredictable, we focus on the things we can control. This allows us to build an investment strategy that is proficient as to where we devote resources and ruthless in seeking efficiency.
We relentlessly endeavour to reduce any costs and fees in the process of executing your wealth management strategy. This is known as the Total Cost of Exposure (TCE) and it includes management & performance fees, commissions, transaction costs, taxes, administration and any other direct, indirect or implied fees.
The TCE can significantly affect where you are on the risk curve and highlights any unwanted or, worse, unrewarded risk.
On top of the investment strategies and services listed, we also offer product structuring services for professional clients, utilising our research and quantitative modelling capabilities.
