The situation
The parents wished to pool these investments within a common structure, retain control of their management, gradually associate their two children and organise the transmission of the portfolio without creating joint ownership between the family members.
Our support
- 01
Creating a holding company suited to the family plan
We set up a family SAS intended to hold, manage and pass on the family’s financial assets.
The articles of association were designed to preserve the family character of the company, in particular with:
- a pre-emption right in favour of the existing shareholders;
- an approval procedure allowing the entry of new shareholders to be controlled;
- an allocation of voting rights suited to the splitting of ownership of the shares;
- governance rules allowing the parents to retain control of the investments.
Point of attention. The family holding makes it possible to separate ownership of the assets from their management: the children can be gradually associated with the value of the wealth, while the parents retain control of it. - 02
Pooling and financing the financial investments
We then examined the ways of transferring the assets to the holding company:
- contribution of certain securities and funds to the company;
- or, where a contribution was not possible, disposal of the assets followed by acquisition by the holding company;
- provision of the necessary cash by way of a shareholder loan;
- financing of the future capital calls attached to the private equity investments;
- accounting, legal and tax monitoring of the portfolio at company level.
Each line was examined separately in order to check its transferability, its valuation and the tax consequences of its contribution or disposal.
- 03
Gradually organising the transmission
The holding company was also designed as a transmission tool.
We supported the family in making a bare-ownership gift of part of the shares to the children, in order to pass on the value of the portfolio to them gradually while maintaining stable governance.
Using a single company made it possible, in particular:
- to avoid fragmenting each investment among the heirs;
- to transfer shares in the holding rather than each asset separately;
- to keep coordinated management of the portfolio;
- to associate the children with the income and future growth in the company’s value;
- to anticipate the risks of deadlock or forced sale that can arise from joint ownership.
Point of attention. The transmission no longer relates to a multitude of financial assets, but to the shares of a family structure organised around common governance rules.
The result
The family now has a company pooling its main financial investments and allowing them to be managed on a unified basis.
The parents retain control of the investment strategy, while the children are gradually associated with ownership of the wealth. The structure also provides a framework to finance the future capital calls, organise distributions and continue the transmission without placing the financial assets directly into joint ownership.
This case was handled by the firm, in light of the law and case law in force at the time of the engagement, and in the light of circumstances specific to it. It is presented for illustration purposes only: it does not constitute advice and does not predetermine the treatment that might be adopted in another matter.