The year 2019, a year filled with hot headlines such as heatwaves in a desert. The economic downturn and fear of recession were the top concerns amongst smart money and family offices. These concerns were on the back of the tumultuous trade war between the U.S. and China. This trade war kept the global central banks on their toes and they took a weapon of mass protection out, once again—the dovish monetary policy. 

This monetary policy drove bond yields to the ground, the Treasury yields in the U.S. touched levels that haven’t been witnessed in decades. The feeble global growth and lower bond yields have shifted the investment focus among family offices and High Net Worth (HNW) individuals. They struggled to find bonds with positive yields and the scarcity of these assets altered their investment strategy. They have started to favour “impact investing”.  

At its core, impact investing combines financial returns with social impact or a friendly environmental outcome. Since 2018, this term has been more of a buzz word. However, this niche investment attracted the attention of the new European Central Bank’s head, Christine Laggarde. The ECB’s new asset purchase program is going to include green funds—funds focused on investments that have a friendly environment outcome. 

Smart money and family offices have paid close attention to this trend and they believe it is likely that central banks may expand their umbrella of investment from green funds to other funds with a different social impact. They believe that impact investing will attract more capital flow into 2020. 

Sir Anthony Ritossa from the Ritossa Family Office who held the 10th family office event in Dubai said “family offices are deeply committed to supporting philanthropic causes where they can improve society. Impact and social responsibility are definitely at the top of our minds as we enter a new year with new opportunities to make a difference. Family offices have generated tremendous multi-generational wealth through the years by cherry-picking the best off-market co-investment deals.”  

Ahmad AR. BinDawood, CEO of Danube & BinDawood, BinDawood Family office said “for us, it is imperative that any investment we make has a social angle. Our current investment is having a positive impact on 10,000 households (employees) in Saudi Arabia and we are making sure that our employees have full educational support because we promote employees to top roles within our organisation.”

Other areas of considerable thought among family offices are megatrends. Saudi Arabia sits on top of this ladder. Since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced Vision 2030 in 2016, various economic and social reforms are geared to diversify the economy away from its traditional dependence on oil.  

The reason that family offices are interested in Saudi Arabia is that Vision 2030 aspires to grow household spending on entertainment to 6% by creating a SAR 30 billion market. Saudi Arabia has already eased off the process of tourist visas and this is the direct result of Vision 2030 which aims to develop more Saudi historical and heritage sites. The plan is to double the number of sites that are currently registered with UNESCO. This means a massive new infrastructure development to support tourism.

Ahmad’s family group, the BinDawood family office, is making an investment to support the tourism industry through its investment in hospitality in the Kingdom and as well as BinDawood Holding’s networks of supermarkets across the kingdom.

Mr. Ritossa said “global attention is on Saudi Arabia as a true powerhouse with tremendous future business potential. Aramco’s IPO’s massive valuation is indeed a big win for Saudi Arabia and further solidifies the region’s position as a strong and transformational economy. Also, we envision more major deals and IPOs in the coming year as the region continues to expand.” 

To conclude, the exuberant volatility and feeble global economic growth have altered the habits of family offices. Impact investment and megatrends are their focus. In my opinion, this investment strategy is going to become more famous in 2020. They see the European Central Bank’s involvement in the impact investment area as a positive sign. Finally, they are also ready to bet on the Saudi tourist and entertainment industry given the potential of Vision 2030 and the outcome of Aramco’s IPO. 

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