Family office offers access to family members

One of Australia’s wealthiest families have restructured and re-branded their family office in an effort to grow its business.

The Myer Family Company, a multi-family office which traces its origins back to 1934, is to be called MFCo. The move coincides with a number of outsiders being brought into senior management positions including a new external chairwoman, Carnival Australia’s chief executive Ann Sherry.

Reports in The Australian newspaper said MFCo manages around A$2.75bn, which has doubled in the last five years.

The Myer family is one of Australia’s best-known business dynasties. Sidney and Elcon Myer, Russian immigrants to Australia, who created the country’s biggest department store group in the early part of the 20th century, made the initial money.

The Australian report also said that as part of the restructuring of the family office clients would have access to Myer family members

The report quoted Sherry saying: “It is not an explicit sales pitch but there is opportunity to talk to members of the family as part of the MFCo offering.” There are 46 members of the fourth generation of the Myer family, ranging in age from 10 to 40.

Globally, the multi-family office sector looks to be increasingly consolidating, as cost pressures push them to seek mergers with competitors. A few weeks ago, two of the UK’s biggest multi-family offices, Fleming Family & Partners and Stonehage, merged, which followed a deal between London-based Sand Aire and Lord North Street.