‘Coffee with...’ series
Dominic Gibbs, director of The Cayzer Trust Company, chaired and introduced the morning session of presentations to a room-full of keen attendees at November’s Coffee with the Intermediaries event held at the auspicious Liberal Club, Whitehall.
Bryony Cove and Marianne Kafena, partners in Farrer & Co’s private client team, started proceedings by specifying a number of key themes when advising generations, which included the role of trusted advisers, the importance of communication and defensive planning.
Recent changes to the UK tax legislation, such as the general anti-abuse ruling and disclosure of tax avoidance schemes, were highlighted by Raj Kapoor, consultant at Minerva Strategies. There was also a lively discussion on challenges offered by the UK tax system – the second most voluminous tax system in the world – and Kapoor outlined a number of solutions for private clients.
Claire Gill and Stevie Loughrey, partners at Carter-Ruck, illustrated the critical issues of reputation management and financial mis-selling. Discussion topics included defamation and privacy and challenges faced by media scrutiny. Views were also shared on financial services disputes, media litigation and high-value breach of contract claims. The morning’s programme ended with a presentation by Sue Holmes, partner, national tax investigations of Smith & Williamson, who elaborated on follower and accelerated payment notices and the challenges posed by HMRC.
The Coffee with the Economists event in October was another well-attended occasion introduced by Global Partnership’s Michael Oliver. First up was Richard Carlyle, investment specialist at Capital Group, who debated the leading question of which economic scenario is currently being experienced. Charles Dumas, chairman and chief economist at Lombard Street Research, provided his thoughts on the ‘Japanning’ of Europe and considered Japan’s precarious economic state.
Gabriel Sterne head of global macro investor relations at Oxford Economics took a close look at Partnership was proud to have Brigadier James Ellery CBE, director of Aegis, as keynote speaker.
the fortunes of emerging markets under the theme of hope and repair. Finally Jeremy Cook, chief economist and head of currency strategy at World First, expounded his views on the prospects of rising currency volatility and spoke elaborately about the history and expectations of a frustrated strategist.
Investment Clubs
The Michaelmas Investment Club held in November at the Caledonian Club in Belgravia was a resounding success and Global Partnership was proud to have Brigadier James Ellery CBE, director of Aegis, as keynote speaker. Presentations started with Catherine Flood, client services manager Baillie Gifford, who highlighted the advantages of investment trusts and the blue-sky growth of Scottish Mortgage. Richard Hardwick, chairman of Bespoke Beverages, offered an interesting explanation of the ever-growing luxury coffee market and highlighted how his firm provides high-net-worth individuals with the most-exclusive coffee in the world.
James Mahon, chief executive and chief investment officer, and Jeremy Wharton, director, of Church House Investment Management commented on the advantages of managing investment portfolios and investment finds, highlighting two of the firm’s offerings: Tenax Absolute Return Fund and Church House Investment-Grade Fixed-Interest Fund.
A thought-provoking presentation on financing our food was given by Marie Haga, executive director of the crop trust at Global Crop Diversity Trust. One overarching theme of her talk was how to ensure the conservation and availability of crop diversity worldwide.
Events came to a close with an explanation of the opportunities in Japanese equity exchange-traded funds, provided by Nikko Asset Management’s Alex Shaw, head of sales, and Geoffrey Post, head of international product development.
Global Partnership Family Offices hosted a lively debate held in the Montgelassaal at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof, Munich in November.
The discussion between Dr Joachim Nagel and David Marsh was moderated by Michael Stürmer, chief correspondent at WELT-Gruppe.
Nagel is member of the executive board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, responsible for the markets and information technology departments, and Marsh is managing director and co-founder of Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum. The two experts illustrated their views about the state of the European economy and gave stimulating views on monetary policy for 2015, with perspectives given on Germany, Great Britain and the euro.
Additional events
There was a real buzz in the air at the Farmers Club in the heart of Whitehall last November, where Harlington Wine Private Members’ Club arranged its first event with Global Partnership to introduce high-touch wine services to members. The turnout at the event was fantastic with the room filled to capacity and the wine tasting turned out to be a real metaphorical eye opener.
Global Partnership was proud to be co-sponsor of a fundraising event for Macmillan Cancer Support at the Grouse and Grape luncheon held at Dartmouth House in London’s Mayfair last October. Attended by over 250 guests, the event was a fantastic success, raising £34,000. Michael Maslinski, committee chairman at Macmillan, spoke about the work the organisation undertakes and how the money is spent assisting people with cancer. Dan Jarman, a cancer survivor, gave an inspiring speech on his battle with cancer and how he benefitted from Macmillan’s support. This year’s event is on October 13.
In addition to the above events, Global Partnership has hosted breakfasts and lunches
for family members on a range of topics and from a variety of industry sectors. These include the renewable energy sector, sports nutrition, food security, fund of hedge funds, private equity and long-term emerging market equity investing. More are planned for this year and we look forward to welcoming you at these events.
