The family office of Germany's wealthy Quandt family is opening itself to outside backers for the first time.
The holding of German industrialist Harald Quandt – HQ Holding is willing to sell a minority stake to one or more outside investors, «Handelsblatt» (behind paywall, in German) reported on Monday. The Bad Homburg-based vehicle has thus far held talks over asset management and alternative investment arms, the German daily reported.
«We could envision entering a strategic partnership in order to speed up and provide a sustainable basis for our growth,» HQ Holding CEO Stefan Keitel told the outlet. «This could be involve a financial services firm taking a stake.»
Trust For Super-Rich
One part of the Quant holding is HQ Asset Management, specializing in quantitative investments. Others including alternative investment manager HQ Capital and multi-family office HQ Trust. The trust manages assets of more than 100 super-rich families.
Keitel's remarks come one year after HQ poached him from Deka Invest. The German banker is well-known in Switzerland, where he was Credit Suisse's investment chief until 2009.
Seeding Funds
The asset management arm in particular lacked the scale and start capital. «In order to reach a wider circle of institutional investors, we need more product diversification and seed money,» Keitel told the German newspaper.
An ideal HQ scenario would be a new partner with both the seed capital for funds as well as a distribution arm to sell them, he noted. HQ wouldn't rule out a stake in the parent holding company, the outlet reported.
