Two very wealthy families have set up a family office in Geneva to allow clients to participate in the company's success.
Hugues d'Annoux (picture above) and Morten Kielland (picture below) have founded Key Family Partners in Geneva. The participating families become equity partners as clients and thus participate in the success of the firm.
The company sees itself as a private investment club which, according to a media release, wants to offer all services from asset management.
Long Tradition
The families of the two co-founders have a long tradition of increasing, managing and preserving their assets. Over several generations, they have built up their wealth in industrial and commercial activities ranging from steel and textile production to shipping and the timber industry.
Count Hugues d'Annoux worked in banking for more than 20 years in Latin America, the USA and Europe. In 1995, he settled in Geneva to manage his family's investments in industry, land and finance, with a focus on private equity.
Morten Kielland (pictured above) founded Key Asset Management in 1989. After the company was sold to the Swedish SEB in 2008, he became Chairman of Scandinavian Investment Holdings until 2012. He is co-founder and director of the First Geneva Global High Yield Fund and director of the Nordic Corporate Bank in Oslo. In 2001, he was knighted by the Order of the Crown of Oaks of Luxembourg.
Role Model Yale
«Unlike traditional independent asset managers, Key Family Partners is managed in the sole interest of its member families. This creates a positive dynamic that encourages the exchange of ideas and sharing of the best solutions,» said Hugues d'Annoux.
In addition to the traditional activities of a full-service family office, Key Family Partners attaches great importance to investments. The firm's approach is based on the Yale model adopted by the leading U.S. foundation funds, which focuses on alternative and illiquid investments such as private equity, real estate and hedge funds. Over the past 20 years, the Yale model has generated annualized returns in excess of 12 percent, almost twice the returns of a traditional 60 percent equity/40 percent bond portfolio.
Top-Class Board of Directors
To ensure sound corporate governance, Key Family Partners has also appointed a strong Board of Directors, consisting of five distinguished individuals with complementary expertise. The Board, chaired by Thierry de Loriol (former CEO BIL, Suisse), also includes Declan Mc Adams, Malek Adjadj, Cynthia Muller and Stéphane d'Abo.
