Creand Wealth Management, the private banking specialists, has drawn up a document to explain how large family estates optimise the management of their wealth through sophisticated, independent structures.
This guide addresses some of the key questions around how Multi-Family Offices operate in Spain, including what the main preferences of large family businesses are, the essential factors in building the best asset allocation strategy, how they set themselves apart and add value in their services, and how they tackle the challenge of generational succession.
What is a Multi-Family Office and why does it make a difference?
The traditional view of private banking focuses primarily on financial advice and product offerings (though in some cases it also includes tax or real estate advice). A Multi-Family Office, however, provides a multidisciplinary framework for managing family wealth. Through a holistic approach, these structures allow not only for the management of financial assets, but also for estate and succession planning, legal structuring and access to exclusive opportunities.
Large business families (with international corporate structures, diversified investments and specific succession needs) require comprehensive solutions that integrate investment management, taxation, family governance, legal affairs, philanthropy and generational succession. In this context, the Multi-Family Office (MFO) model has established itself as a sophisticated and effective alternative—most often complementing, rather than replacing, the services of a single-family office.
In an environment shaped by globalisation, regulatory change and increasingly sophisticated markets, the very concept of wealth has undergone a profound transformation. It is no longer simply a matter of protecting or maximising financial assets, but about understanding wealth as a complex and dynamic ecosystem that brings together economic, personal, family and generational interests. In this new landscape, wealth management requires the ability to anticipate risks, seize opportunities and preserve family wealth with a long-term perspective.
Open architecture and total independence in decision making
One of the most distinctive features of the Multi-Family Office model is its commitment to total independence in advisory, management and the selection of products, strategies and providers. Unlike many traditional financial institutions, which prioritise their own products, the Multi-Family Office operates free from conflicts of interest. The result is transparent advice, focused solely on ensuring that every wealth management decision is appropriate, consistent and effective.
This independence makes it possible to design bespoke wealth solutions, tailored to the characteristics, needs and objectives of each family. Access to a wide range of vehicles (including traditional financial assets, alternative investments such as private equity, private debt, international real estate or impact investments) enables families to optimise diversification. This goes beyond geography or sector, extending to structure, liquidity, taxation and investment horizon. In addition, access to niche investment opportunities—often unavailable through traditional channels—provides a further source of differentiation in value creation.
Strategic services for all-round wealth management
Effective wealth management goes far beyond making sound investments. The Multi-Family Office model integrates a range of complementary strategic services that enable business families to make informed, structured decisions.
These include developing a family investment policy, consolidating and reporting across providers, and evaluating their performance. Families also gain access to structured financing solutions, which help optimise leverage without compromising the security of overall wealth. They can also benefit from an analysis of their current tax position (both domestic and international) to help ensure their wealth is structured efficiently now and remains adaptable to future legal and family circumstances.
Family governance, together with effective succession planning, is another essential pillar. The Multi-Family Office works alongside families to design protocols, decision-making frameworks and legal instruments that ensure business and wealth continuity across generations. This is complemented by legal and accounting oversight, carried out in collaboration with trusted external advisers, providing a unified perspective that helps mitigate risks, improve tax efficiency and safeguard the long-term sustainability of family wealth.
One of the advantages of belonging to a relatively large group with economies of scale, as is the case with Creand Family Office, is the ability to offer comprehensive wealth advisory services, including specialised expertise in structuring and managing real estate investment portfolios.
Santiago Hagerman, Managing Director of Creand Family Office, explains that “our approach focuses on building portfolios based on a detailed analysis of the valuation and quality of each individual investment. Combined with proper diversification, this enables us to optimise returns while minimising risk. Our real estate investment team has extensive experience and applies the same level of rigour in this sector, screening the best opportunities on the market and carrying out an in-depth, objective analysis of each one, with the aim of constructing the best possible portfolio in terms of balancing risk and return.”
Hagerman adds that “having an open-architecture structure allows us to apply the same approach we use for liquid financial investments. In the real estate space, this means working with leading players in the sector and, thanks to our specialist network, offering exclusive access to off-market opportunities with high added value. All of this is complemented by continuous monitoring and performance analysis of the investments made.”
Personal service, trusted relationships and a shared vision
At the heart of the Multi-Family Office model lies a personal, stable relationship of trust between the management team and the family. Far removed from standardised solutions, each family has a dedicated team that understands its history, values and priorities in depth, delivering highly personalised support built on stable and confidential relationships. In practice, this translates into transparent, regularly updated wealth reports that provide the basis for making decisions on clear, well-structured information.
This level of personalisation not only enhances the client experience but also strengthens the protection of family wealth over the long term, aligning interests and fostering strategic decision-making.
Advantages of the Multi-Family Office
The Multi-Family Office represents a natural step forward from traditional private banking models. First, it offers complete independence, with no proprietary products to sell, ensuring that its primary commitment is to serve the family’s best interests.
Second, it provides full transparency on cost and fee structures, avoiding opaque models that obscure the true price of the service. It also creates long-term alignment of interests, fostering management that focuses not only on preserving wealth but also on growing it responsibly and sustainably for future generations.
In today’s ever-changing world, where economic, fiscal and social challenges demand both agility and strategic depth, the Multi-Family Office stands out as a structure designed to preserve, grow and carry forward the legacy of wealthy families.