Supporting a Bahraini shipping family following a major liquidity event

The situation

A Bahraini family operating in the shipping industry recently experienced a significant liquidity event. The patriarch has eight children (four men and four women), all of whom are actively involved in the family business.  

Before the liquidity event, the family had limited experience managing their wealth and sought support to structure, govern and invest their assets in line with their long‑term objectives, values and interpretation of Sharia‑compliant investing.

The client’s goals

• Define a clear investment philosophy that includes risk appetite and return expectations, while also ensuring all investments align with the family’s interpretation of Sharia‑compliant investing.
• Establish a structured and disciplined approach to investing the family’s wealth. 
• Create robust and equitable family structures across eight family branches.
• Access ongoing investment expertise and decision-making support through a formal investment governance framework.

Our approach

We recommended that the family be supported by our team, in order to:

• Work with the family to define their interpretation of Sharia compliance and embed this framework into an investment strategy.
• Draft a comprehensive Investment Policy Statement with the family, capturing their objectives, risk tolerance, return targets, governance principles and Sharia‑compliant parameters.
• Create a Private Trust Company and set up eight family trusts under it, one for each branch of the family, to strengthen long‑term succession and governance.
• Introduce the family to Outsourced Financial and Investment Office (OFIO) services to provide holistic oversight of their wealth.
• Support the family in deploying capital in line with their Investment Policy Statement.
• Assist in the selection, appointment and oversight of external investment managers across asset classes.

Outcomes (to date)

• A fully agreed-upon and operational Investment Policy Statement has been written for all investment decisions, with capital deployed across a diversified set of managers and strategies.
• The family’s wealth has been consolidated into a coherent portfolio framework, aligned on governance, risk, return expectations and Sharia‑compliant principles.
• The family have taken on the ongoing indirect management and oversight of the consolidated portfolio through Investment Committee participation.
• A scalable and transparent structure has been put in place, to support current and future generations.
  
• Corient Wealth Advisers are positioned within the family’s Investment Committee, providing ongoing advice and institutional investment discipline.

Disclosure: Case studies are provided for illustrative purposes only and are based on real client or former client engagement. Some scenarios may reflect client experiences or work originally performed by a firm that has since been acquired. All client names, identifying details and contextual elements have been anonymised to protect client confidentiality. The outcomes described reflect the experience of a particular client. Results are not guaranteed and may vary based on each client’s individual circumstances, market conditions, regulatory requirements and specific financial objectives.

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