Family Offices Go Direct: A New Era in Private Market Investing

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Welcome to Unlocking Liquidity, the podcast from PrimaryMarkets that brings the dynamic world of private capital to life. Each week, we dive into the trends, opportunities and challenges shaping today’s investment landscape, from emerging asset classes and market innovation through to strategies for navigating liquidity in unlisted markets. Whether you’re an experienced investor, a dealmaker, or simply curious about private markets, Unlocking Liquidity offers analysis and real-world insights to help you make sense of complexity and stay ahead of what’s next.

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In this episode of Unlocking Liquidity, we’re exploring a major shift happening in private capital – the rise of family offices going direct. Around the world, and increasingly here in Australia, high-net-worth families are moving away from traditional fund structures and taking a more hands-on approach to private investments. They’re forming club deals, partnering across borders, and building networks that give them greater control, lower fee structures and more bespoke exposure to private opportunities. We’ll look at why this trend is accelerating, what it means for investors and companies, and how platforms like PrimaryMarkets are helping facilitate this new model of private market participation.

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The global family office landscape is evolving quickly. High-net-worth families that once relied on fund managers and pooled vehicles are increasingly pursuing direct investments, forming ad hoc club structures for larger deals and coordinating cross-border co-investments to access scale and specialised deal flow. In Australia this trend is becoming more visible as family offices lean into private markets, private credit and real assets, preferring investment approaches that offer control, bespoke structuring and cost efficiency. These shifts create both opportunities and operational demands for platforms that serve investors, including capital-raising and secondary trading platforms such as PrimaryMarkets.

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Family offices are allocating a larger portion of their capital to direct private investments and co-investments alongside peers and trusted partners. The attraction is straightforward: direct deals let families capture more of the upside and influence governance, exit timing and operational support tailored to the investment thesis. Where a single family lacks the scale to underwrite a larger opportunity, club structures, informal syndicates of two or more family offices, often led by an experienced family investor or a specialist manager provide a simple way to combine capital and expertise without the cost and lifecycle rigidity of a commingled fund.

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Global studies have documented this movement and show that family offices are prominent buyers in start-up capital and private deals and that deal activity by family offices continues to diversify across venture, real estate and direct M&A. Co-investment and direct M&A now form core parts of many family office playbooks.

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Cross-border co-investment sits at the intersection of diversification and specialist access. For Australian family offices, partnering with well-connected overseas families or regional platforms gives entry to growth markets, technology clusters and sector plays for example North American tech or European renewable energy projects that may be underrepresented in local syndication channels. Conversely, inbound co-investment allows offshore family offices to participate in Australian sectors such as agriculture, resources, infrastructure and domestic real estate where local knowledge is essential, creating a mutually reinforcing pattern of specialization and market access.

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This trend is reflected in advisory and industry commentary noting that family offices are both a source and consumer of cross-border capital, with the most successful arrangements marked by pre-existing relationships, aligned time horizons and clearly defined governance for decision making and exits. For Australian investors, the growing number of family offices and private capital managers with a regional footprint has materially expanded the universe of potential co-investors.

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Several practical and structural drivers explain the move away from commingled fund models and toward direct, bespoke structures. First, fee economics matter. Traditional private equity and venture funds charge management fees and carried interest that erode long-term returns; family offices with sufficient scale increasingly question why they should pay layers of fees for investment control they could manage in-house. Second, liquidity and alignment: funds have set lifecycle clocks and distribution mechanics that may not suit multi-generational families seeking generational wealth creation, preservation or long holding periods for strategic assets. Third, strategic control: direct investments enable family offices to negotiate governance, board seats and value-creation plans that align with family values, impact objectives or operational ambitions in a way that blind pool funds generally cannot.

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This is not a theoretical shift. Surveys and advisory reports from major professional services firms and family office specialists find an increasing allocation to private and direct investments, and a rise in co-investment activity as families attempt to reduce fees and increase control. Work tracking family office deals shows meaningful participation in direct M&A and venture capital, while regional research highlights Australian family offices reallocating capital toward private credit and direct private equity. These are practical responses to higher public market volatility, the long stays of companies in private ownership and the desire for bespoke exposure to thematic sectors.

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A number of Australian family offices have been active in direct property investment, participating in sizable office transactions and demonstrating how prominent family offices can mobilise capital into strategic real estate investments, occasionally in partnership with specialist managers. This kind of family-led transaction highlights how direct ownership and close governance are being used to capture sector-specific opportunity in Australia’s large institutional markets. At the same time, local commentary from leading family office advisors shows a trend where established Australian family investors are moving allocations from listed equities into private credit and private equity, seeking yield and structural advantages.

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There are also newer firms and multi-family organisations in Australia that act like de-facto club managers: matched syndication for property, private equity or founder buyouts with family capital working alongside specialist managers. The growth of these intermediaries is partly a response to the desire for lower friction execution, better pricing and simpler access to secondary liquidity for otherwise illiquid direct stakes.

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The shift toward direct deals and club structures creates immediate operational consequences. Doing direct investments well requires internal capability across sourcing, diligence, tax and legal structuring, active portfolio governance and exit planning. Not every family wants to build a large investment team, which is why club deals and trusted co-investment partners are critical: they let families leverage others families or specialist transaction capabilities while retaining upside capture. At the same time, direct exposure concentrates idiosyncratic risk and places a premium on specialist due diligence and operational oversight.

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Technology, data and advisory services are becoming enablers. Australian family offices are investing in technology and external advisor networks to scale their direct investment programs and to monitor performance, compliance and reporting. Analysis of the Australian family office market highlights that as family offices professionalise, they increasingly adopt enterprise-grade operating practices, including outsourced CIO functions, performance reporting and technology platforms to manage portfolio complexity.

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Platforms that serve wholesale and sophisticated investors are positioned to benefit from and must adapt to these structural shifts. PrimaryMarkets, with its focus on raising capital and trading unlisted securities, sits at a nexus where family offices seeking direct exposure, bespoke co-investment opportunities, or trading liquidity for private holdings can find match-making efficiencies. For family offices, platforms that can provide vetted deal flow, clear governance documentation, transparent pricing, and secondary liquidity address some of the core frictions of direct investing. Likewise, for sponsor companies and entrepreneurs, access to patient family capital and the possibility of orderly secondary trading creates an attractive alternative to traditional fund-led distribution channels.

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To be effective, platforms must combine rigorous KYC and investor accreditation with due diligence support, legal standardisation for co-investment and trading. The most valuable platforms will also enable bespoke club arrangements, allow tailored document workflows for family governance requirements and support cross-border capital movements in a compliant manner. The combination of capital formation, matched co-investment and secondary liquidity is increasingly compelling to families that want both control and optionality.

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Direct and cross-border co-investments raise regulatory and tax complexities that families and platforms cannot ignore. Structuring for tax efficiency, transfer pricing, withholding taxes and tradeable share documentation becomes more important as Australian families work with offshore partners or invest overseas. The family office model provides flexibility but also requires expert counsel to avoid unintended regulatory exposure, particularly when dealing with securities laws and investor accreditation in multiple jurisdictions. Professional advisors and platforms with strong compliance frameworks are therefore essential partners for families pursuing this more active, cross-border posture.

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Looking forward, three dynamics will likely shape the next phase of family office investment in Australia. First, consolidation of expertise: larger families will continue to build internal teams or partner with a small number of highly capable operators to lead direct deal sourcing and execution. Second, specialisation: families with sector expertise for example in property, resources, agriculture or technology will leverage that knowledge to anchor club deals and attract co-investors. Third, generational change: younger family members often bring different risk appetites and a greater willingness to back tech and impact opportunities, accelerating direct investment into thematic sectors. Together, these forces suggest a more active, networked and entrepreneurial family office sector that will rely on specialist platforms and advisors to operate efficiently.

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For investors, the family office pivot to direct deals, club structures and cross-border co-investment presents a clear shift in how private capital is sourced, structured and traded. The benefits – lower fees, bespoke governance and direct exposure to high-conviction sectors – are real, but they come with higher operational demands and complexity. Platforms like PrimaryMarkets that can combine strong deal origination, compliance, standardised documentation and secondary liquidity are increasingly important infrastructure for families seeking to deploy patient, strategic capital outside the traditional fund model. For Australian family offices and their partners, the next decade will likely be defined by deeper specialisation, tighter co-investment networks and a pragmatic embrace of the tools and platforms that make direct investing scalable, auditable and transferable.

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And that brings us to the end of this episode of Unlocking Liquidity. Thanks for spending your time with us, we hope today’s conversation gave you a fresh perspective on private markets and how liquidity is evolving. If you enjoyed the episode, please follow or subscribe wherever you listen, and feel free to share it with someone who’d get value from it. For more insights, opportunities and episodes, visit PrimaryMarkets. Until next time, thanks for listening, and we’ll see you in the next conversation.