Supporting a Bahraini shipping family following a major liquidity event

The Al Zayanis are a Bahraini family operating in the shipping industry who 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.

Client’s Goals

• Define a clear investment philosophy including risk appetite and return expectations while ensuring all investments align with the family’s interpretation of Sharia‑compliant investing
• Establish a structured and disciplined approach to investing family 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 Recommendations

That the family be supported by the Stonehage Fleming team to:

• Define the family’s interpretation of Sharia compliance with them and embed this framework into 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 the Investment Policy Statement
• Assist in the selection, appointment, and oversight of external investment managers across asset classes.

Outcomes (To Date)

• A fully agreed 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
• The Stonehage Fleming team is positioned within the family’s investment committee, providing ongoing advice and institutional investment discipline.
   

Disclaimer: Please note, all case studies have been carefully anonymised. Although scenarios are based on real life events they have been fictionalised and are an amalgamation of client experiences. All names, locations and occupations have been replaced with pseudonyms.

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