The situation

The founder of a privately held business was considering the sale to a strategic investor. This would be a transformative wealth event for the client and he realized that his financial situation had outgrown the expertise of his current advisor. Our team was referred by an existing client due to our experience with pre-liquidity planning, including generational wealth and philanthropy. We were invited to present to the client and were selected to serve as the family's primary advisor to lead the family through a complex process.

Our approach

Our team has vast experience in overseeing the wealth management considerations associated with significant liquidity events. We understand that entrepreneurs, founders and business owners recognize the tremendous efforts leading up to a sale must be capitalized upon with effective pre-planning.

Accordingly, we worked with our client to address the estate planning and liquidity management process into manageable phases. We addressed the time-sensitive issues up front and worked with our client and his family over time to put a comprehensive plan in place that was centered on their unique objectives, specifically: capital oversight, trust and estate concerns, philanthropy and the behavioral finance aspects of beneficiary education.

Working closely with the UBS Global Family Office, the Chief Investment Office and the Portfolio Advisory Group, we tapped the full resources of the firm to distill a complicated structure into a simple mandate. By organizing, administering and managing assets, we created a risk management strategy that we carefully executed over time.

We also worked very closely with the client's tax and legal counsel in developing a robust plan that allowed us to work inside various trusts and addressed the family's objectives across estate planning, philanthropy, liability management and investing. Careful attention to details in these areas has given the client confidence in our relationship.