Red Square London Attend The Opal European Family Office Winter Symposium

 

Two Days at the Opal European Family Office Winter Symposium

Welcome to our brand new blog!  To kick off proceedings, we would like to update you on our interesting and busy two days at the Opal Winter European Family Office Symposium, held at the Park Lane Hilton (London) 11-12 February 2013.  Communications and Brand Director, Anna White attended this annual event with Red Square London Co-Founder Tatiana Nevard, who was honoured to be invited on the panel for the BRICs Region round table discussion; but more about that later.

Conference Day 1: Monday, 11 February 2013

The first day kicked off with sessions covering ‘Private Wealth Strategies’, ‘Investing Styles’, ‘Governance’ and ‘Risk’.  The discussions covering ‘Hidden Risks In Real Estate Investing’, ’Pitfalls and Illusions’ were of particular interest as Red Square London is becoming increasingly involved in property and this is a fast moving, dog eat dog industry.  Keeping up with internal developments is vital, and this was a hub of information, delivered by some very focused, qualified minds notably input from Anis Ashgar from RDS Capital Limited.

 

 

Conference Day 2: Tuesday, 12 February 2013

 

After a packed first day, we started the second day discussing how to ‘save the world and feel good about it’ AKA ‘Family Philanthropy’. We heard from top consultants, Plum Lomax of New Philanthropy Capital and Harin Thaker of the Akshaya Patra Foundation, on how they think outside the box to create really meaningful ‘giving relationships’ for clients. 

Notably, a fierce debate with Jake Hayman on what constitutes effective philanthropy made the morning coffee go down nicely.  This has certainly given us food for thought, and we are now looking at this area as a service we can offer our clients, as it isn’t currently something we do. 

Danladi Verheijn of Verod Capital argued enthusiastically for greater investment in smart projects in Africa and that was followed by Africa again but from an infrastructure investment perspective, investigating the efficiency of big investment projects, mostly PPP.

Lunch was taken with a number of interesting individuals with substantial wealth to invest.  What a joy it was to debate strategies for success in these challenging times with masterminds of industry.  It certainly put Tatiana Nevard in the right place mentally before she made her excuses to join fellow panellists for the BRICs Region roundtable discussion.

BRIC Region Roundtable

Tushar Patel of HFIM was the Moderator and controlled the debate on the future of the BRICs region, and potential for looking outside the region to MIST, or new frontier markets like the Balkans.  Our focus quite naturally was on Russia and the challenges to investing there, coupled with our experience that clients from the region can be reluctant to maintain or reinvest there. 

The audience was very responsive to our line of discussion and we took the majority of questions from the floor. We will be publishing a selection of these in our next blog. Our roundtable was followed by a similar discussion but focusing on the MENA region, which had some contradictory points of view over the safety of investing in the Middle Eastern Region.

….and Relax!?

Winding down, the Champagne Roundtable, hosted by Fusion Investments, Montreux Capital Management, Texas Coastal Energy and Nixon Peabody, gave Tatiana and Anna a chance to talk to  many of the other delegates attending and, due to high demand, continue the BRICs discussion in a more relaxed surroundings. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly for Red Square London, ’Key Personal Skills for Family Office Advisers’ rounded off a very full two days.

After the closing cocktail reception, we capped the Opal European Family Office Winter Symposium with a very enjoyable (and delicious) Sponsors’ Dinner at Nobu, Park Lane, hosted by Texas Coastal Energy.  Finally exhaustion won the day and led the Red Square London team home. Both Tatiana and Anna were booked into a very early marketing meeting the next morning in Pall Mall.  Business as usual!