London finance luminaries form family office

A group of senior London-based financiers have come together to form a new multi family office designed to more closely align the interests of the partners with those of its clients.

Holbein Partners, formed from the amalgamation of Cunningham Loewenstein Asset Management and the wealth management business of MaxCap Partners, has among its backers Prince Rupert Loewenstein, famous for managing the money of the Rolling Stones, Steven Blakey, founder of European Credit Management, and Michael George, founder of MaxCap – the family office he established following the sale of his family’s Weetabix business.

Other senior managers include Mark Cunningham, the former managing director at Helix Associates, and Andrew Rodger, previously head of the family office business at Stonehage.

In a statement, Holbein said it seeks to differentiate itself from other wealth managers by aligning the interests of the partners with those of its clients. Holbein said this would be done by the partners’ money accounting for a substantial proportion of the family office’s current assets under management. A spokesman for Holbein was not able to disclose the amount of current assets under management.

Holbein added that the diverse background of the partners – many from outside of the wealth management industry – would also help to differentiate it from other private banks and family offices.

“The senior partners all have lengthy and successful careers outside wealth management, notably in leadership roles in institutional asset management, international credit markets and corporate finance – they bring to clients broad and deep commercial and professional experience,” Holbein said in a statement.

Holbein also said that much effort would be made towards client servicing, with a strong link between senior partners and clients being very much part of its culture. “They [clients] can regard the senior partners as the board of their own out-sourced family office; the number of clients will never exceed Holbein’s capacity to deliver a high level of service with close senior partner contacts.”

The Belgravia-based family office said it was looking to seek clients with at least £50 million (€58.9 million) of financial assets.