When the owner of a Hong Kong-based transportation company sold part of his business in the late 1990s, the proceeds amounted to more than $50 million. His brother, another successful entrepreneur, recommended the services of Private Wealth Management to help deal with these substantial assets.

The client wanted growth-oriented yet non-aggressive investments that he hoped would yield around 8-9% per year. He wanted to diversify his remaining business interests and cash holdings to protect against loss. He sought to establish a close private banking relationship that could advise on new ways to structure his holdings, and provide effective foreign exchange services. He had already established a trust in the British Virgin Islands, last reviewed in 1998.

The Relationship Manager had been advising the client’s brother for several years, so was familiar with the family business. The Relationship Manager also shared a background in international transportation with the client, and so established immediate rapport. This was reinforced by meetings with a Private Wealth Management’s senior investment strategist from London, and various global product specialists. Recommendations included:

• Sophisticated structuring solutions through our Singapore Global Markets Team
• Optimization of British Virgin Islands trust
• Creation of a core investment portfolio to enhance existing cash holdings and promote diversification

The client transferred a fixed income portfolio to Private Wealth Management which was restructured and leveraged. He put around $30 million into the Discretionary Balanced and Unconstrained Conservative portfolios as a core investment, and $20 million into specially tailored principal protected structured products³. He also opened a margin account for over-the-counter derivatives and foreign exchange for tactical satellite theme plays. His BVI trust was also restructured to minimize the tax payable on certain assets⁴. His holdings were also more specifically defined in his will, to ensure no confusion when the time comes to allocate them to his beneficiaries.

From the comfort of his homes in Shanghai, Australia, Thailand and Paris, the client is happy that his assets are now on track to deliver the level of return he wanted, are well diversified to hedge against downturns, and properly protected through his BVI trust. The client’s Relationship Manager keeps a careful eye on his portfolio – with full reviews once a year – the client being too busy for anything more frequent. The client’s personal advisers now work actively with the bank’s specialist investment advisers on a monthly basis, to ensure that his portfolio remains correctly positioned to match changes in both his personal circumstances and the investment markets.