Family Offices Favor Direct Investments and Smaller Hedge Fund Managers

Family offices favor direct investments over funds of hedge funds, along with a preference for smaller hedge fund managers on the premise they are more nimble. At EisnerAmper’s Sixth Annual Private Wealth & Family Office Summit which took place November 12 in New York City’s historic Morgan Library & Museum, panelists shared this investment consensus on the discussion titled “Investment Trends for Families.”

Timothy Speiss, partner-in-charge of the firm’s Private Wealth Advisory Services (PWA) group, moderated the panel headlined by Richard Slocum, Chief Investment Officer of the Johnson Company and Joseph Kusnan, General Partner of The Hudson + East Partnership, both family offices located in New York City.
 

Mr. Slocum further specified with regards to hedge fund strategies, he preferred European credit over equities due to the slow growth the continent is experiencing; a trend he expects to continue going forward. Further, he suggested banks can short balance sheets in Europe. Additionally, biotechnology is currently his favorite sector focus.

Mr. Kusnan specified that The Hudson + East Partnership employs a bottoms-up model and takes an opportunistic approach to investing.

Before Mr. Slocum joined The Johnson Family in September 2011 where he was tasked to develop an asset allocation plan, he spent six years at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, most recently as Director of Portfolio Management.  Mr. Kusnan was formerly with a large Connecticut-based family office as well as MSD Capital, Michael Dell’s family office.