We operate a fully licensed trust and corporate services provider and can devise, implement, and manage the full range of fiduciary structures, including trusts, companies, partnerships, and other legal forms of ownership. As part of these services, we provide trustees and directors, registered office services, nominee shareholders, and the full range of transaction execution, and on-going administration, accounting, and financial reporting services.

Trusts: The worldwide use of trusts is well established, having been used for centuries in legal systems derived from English law.  There is now an acceptance in many, both common law and some civil law, jurisdictions of the trust concept and its advantages. In its simplest form, a trust involves a person (the settlor) transferring the ownership of assets to trustees to hold for the benefit of the beneficiaries. The assets cease to be owned by the settlor, but they do not become owned by the beneficiaries. They are legally owned by the trustees, but they are not permitted to utilise the assets for their own benefit, only for the benefit of the beneficiaries. It is this concept of the separate ownership of assets from their beneficial enjoyment and the widely differing forms of trust which makes them so useful. Trusts are an effective tool to own multiple assets, organize them and provide lifetime benefit and continuity for future generations.

Private Trust Companies: A Private Trust Company (PTC) provides a family with more control over its global assets than a traditional trust. A PTC is well-suited to families with extensive operating assets or where a client wants, and is able, to play a more active role in the administration of the trust without prejudicing the legal validity of the trust structure or its tax residence.

Foundations: Foundations can also serve as a means to own multiple assets, organise them and provide continuity for the next generation, especially for those families or assets where a trust is not an available choice. In some jurisdictions, corporate and partnership vehicles can also be structured to deliver similar outcomes.

Corporate Structures: A holding company is an important wealth management tool. It can own liquid and illiquid assets throughout the world including operating companies, real estate, and investment portfolios. Some of the legal forms with which we work include private limited companies, public limited companies, companies limited by guarantee, hybrid companies, LLCs, as well as other legal forms with corporate personality. Such entities can be established in a multitude of jurisdictions, both traditional “offshore” jurisdictions and also “onshore” jurisdictions, depending on the requirements. Companies are often core building blocks of a structured environment. 

Partnerships: We undertake the establishment and the ongoing administration of both General Partnerships and Limited Partnerships. We prepare partnership agreements for partnerships of all kinds in the jurisdictions which are favoured for such structures. We also provide nominee partners for those seeking confidentiality, and for limited partnerships will provide directors and ongoing administration to the general partner function. Partnerships are particularly favoured for certain types of joint venture, as private equity investment vehicles and as part ownership arrangements over particular assets, such as yachts, aircraft, art works or real estate. 

Investment Funds: Investment Funds can own multiple assets and enable multiple shareholders to have accurate valuations for their assets. They are a useful tool for wealth management and transmission of assets to the next generation. We also have expertise in establishing and administering closed ended co-investment vehicles for specific acquisitions or investments, where the structure provides for reduced documentary requirements for shareholder subscription and ongoing shareholder agreement terms and conditions, a reduced administrative burden, but nevertheless with provision for management and performance fees. Such structures have proven particularly popular for one-off investments in private equity, specific high value works of art, independent film financing, yachts, aircraft, and wine collections.

Philanthropy: More and more families choose to include within their overall wealth planning a strategy devoted to philanthropy or charitable giving. Not only does this give life to general philanthropic desire, but it can also carry with it a number of benefits, including the ability to choose who benefits, to involve family members in the governance and grant making process and to put in place a long-lasting legacy focused on things that a family really cares about.

Financial Reporting & Consolidation: As trustee and administrators of your structures, we provide consolidated financial reporting. It is a core element to many of the services we provide that we are equipped to handle all the key accounting functions, including collection of financial information, recording, and storing financial information, aggregating, and organising financial information and presenting and reporting financial information.  Our dedicated client accounting teams are therefore resourced to provide a full accounting service, but also work hand in glove with external accountancy firms where required. In addition, with the introduction of more complex tax rules for individuals in certain countries, the need for knowledgeable accounting has become acute.