FOR FAMILY OFFICES
Buying companies directly, against sponsors who do it every day.
Single and multi-family offices investing directly compete for the same assets as funds with full-time deal teams. We work as the outside deal team on those mandates: origination against the family's own criteria, the diligence a direct deal still requires, and capital for the operating companies the family already holds. The office keeps its own managers, its own advisers, and its own decisions.
WHERE OFFICES COME IN
Four situations, and what each needs from outside.
Every one of these is a transaction mandate with a start and an end. Portfolio management, tax, estate work, and reporting stay with the advisers the family already has, and we work alongside them.
A direct deal against a competitive process
The office wants to own the company rather than a position in somebody else's fund, and the seller's banker has built the process for sponsors.
No proprietary flow of its own
The deals reaching the office are the ones that reached everybody, at the price everybody has already seen.
Co-investing beside a sponsor
The office has an allocation and wants an independent read on the asset rather than the sponsor's own materials.
Capital for a company the family owns
Debt or minority equity for an operating business, structured so control stays with the family and the reporting is reporting the company can produce.
THREE MANDATES
Three kinds of work, each scoped to the office.
For an office buying directly
Buy-Side Advisory
Origination against the family's criteria, then the work a direct acquisition needs in front of the decision: outreach, screening, and negotiation against a seller who runs these regularly and knows how they go.
- Owners approached directly, so the office is not one bidder in a queue
- Criteria written down first: sector, size, geography, and timeline
- The office decides; we carry the work in front of that decision
For a company the family already holds
Capital Raising
Debt and equity raised for an operating business the family owns, structured so control stays where the family wants it and the reporting a lender or investor expects is reporting the company can produce.
- Senior debt, unitranche, and minority equity
- Governance and reporting terms negotiated rather than accepted
- Run at the family's pace rather than on a banker's calendar
For an asset under offer, or a co-investment
Technology Diligence
An independent read of the technology, security, data, and AI inside a target, written for the people making the investment decision rather than for the engineers. Findings carry a dollar consequence and a remediation window.
- Sorted by whether a finding gates the deal, moves the price, or threatens the thesis
- Usable in a co-investment where the sponsor's materials are otherwise the only source
- The same operator can hold the technology seat after close if the company needs one
Each is engaged on its own terms and priced per mandate, agreed in writing before work starts. An office with an internal deal team hires the parts it cannot staff, which is usually the volume of outreach rather than the judgement at the end of it.
HONEST ANSWERS
What offices ask on the first call.
- Do you manage the office, or its portfolio?
- No. This practice is hired on transactions: buying a company, financing one, reading what is inside a target, and selling a family-owned business when the family decides to. Portfolio management, tax, estate planning, reporting, and the running of the office stay with the advisers the family already has.
- We have an in-house deal team. Where does this fit?
- On the work the team cannot staff. An internal team knows the family's mandate better than any outsider will. What it usually cannot do is reach thirty owners in a subsector inside a quarter.
- Do you introduce offices to each other?
- Our team has worked alongside family offices in several markets for over a decade, and introductions happen where a shared sector or a shared mandate makes them useful. They come out of the work rather than being sold as a service.
- How is this priced?
- Per mandate, agreed in writing before work starts. We do not publish fees on this site, because those terms belong in an engagement letter rather than in marketing copy.
- What size of transaction?
- Lower middle market and middle market, on both the acquisition side and the capital side. The capital raising page states the size screen in detail.
Start a conversation
Tell us what the office is trying to buy or finance.
A direct acquisition you are working on, a co-investment you want read independently, or financing for a company the family holds. You get a straight answer on whether it is a mandate we can run well.
Bass Zanjani leads M&A Advisory and reads every brief. If the mandate is not one we can run well, we will say so rather than take it.