FOR FAMILY OFFICES
A major family purchase that can sit outside the usual governance structure
Family offices apply real discipline to investment decisions and succession planning. A superyacht purchase, often an eight-figure decision, usually gets none of it, a broker's word and technical findings that the family’s existing advisers may not be equipped to interpret in an operational context.
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Governance stops at the water's edge
UBS's 2026 Global Family Office Report found fewer than half of family offices have formal governance frameworks, and only 35% have a documented succession plan, despite real sophistication elsewhere in the portfolio. That gap shows up sharply at the point of a major lifestyle asset purchase, where there's often no equivalent structure at all.
It may be infrequent enough that the family office has no permanent maritime capability, yet significant enough to require informed representation throughout the transaction. It's technical enough that the family's usual advisers, however good at tax or structuring, aren't the right people to read a marine survey. And the most active voice in the room throughout, the selling broker, is paid on the transaction, not on protecting the family's interest in it.
The same discipline, extended to one transaction
Families do better when they formally separate the owner's strategic role from professional day-to-day management, rather than leaving the line blurred.
“The ‘house of rooms’ concept is useful here in designating who does what and who the decision makers are.”
Coutts Bank — on family governance, the “house of rooms” model
In a yacht purchase, the selling broker is often the most active professional voice in the room. That does not make their advice unsound, but they are normally remunerated when the transaction completes. Family offices already appoint outside specialists when a decision is infrequent, technical and financially significant. A yacht acquisition does not require a new philosophy. It requires the same discipline the family applies elsewhere: clear responsibilities, independent scrutiny and someone instructed and paid only by the family.
Anthony Austin, Master Mariner | Independent Superyacht Buyer Representative
Frequently asked questions
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Most family offices won't have this in-house, and don't need to build it permanently for what's typically a one-time purchase. Representation is engaged for the duration of the transaction, the way outside specialists are already brought in for tax structuring or art advisory.
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The family, or whoever the family office designates, exclusively. There's no commission tied to the sale price or to any broker.
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Earlier than most families assume, ideally before an offer is made, and through survey and sea trial, not just at the point of signing.
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No. It sits alongside them, covering the one domain — maritime and vessel-specific — that private banking teams aren't set up to evaluate directly.
For a decision the family will live with for years, worth having someone in the room who works only for you.
A confidential conversation, no obligation, about where this fits into a specific purchase.