Peter Hargreaves builds family office for his US$4b fortune

[LONDON] Peter Hargreaves is expanding his family office to put to work his growing fortune held outside of Hargreaves Lansdown, the investment platform that has made him one of the world's richest people.

The British businessman, who is worth about US$4 billion, has sold £850 million (S$1.61 billion) of Hargreaves Lansdown stock since the start of last year. Before that, he had not offloaded shares in the investment firm since its 2007 initial public offering.

Hargreaves, who co-founded it with Stephen Lansdown in 1981, still owns about 20 per cent of the company. In recent years, he has backed London-based money manager Blue Whale Capital and donated £100 million of Hargreaves Lansdown stock to set up a foundation.

The 75-year-old said in a phone interview that he has also taken stakes in private-equity funds, something that continues to be of interest, and has plans for his "embryonic" family office.

"We are expanding," he said, adding that he is now considering his family office's investing focus. The former accountant has not named his family office, the catchall phrase for firms that manage the financial affairs of the wealthy. "We don't have a name for it - it's just our family office," he said.

Hargreaves left the company's board in 2015, five years after stepping down as chief executive officer of the Bristol, England-based firm. The company pioneered the business of helping retail investors buy funds and shares. Hargreaves Lansdown's stock has returned more than 800 per cent since it began trading publicly, though its shares slumped during 2019, when one of four of its clients was exposed to the collapse of Neil Woodford's flagship fund.

The Hargreaves family foundation has supported education, food and sport programs, says its website.

Hargreaves set up the company that still makes up about half his wealth in his spare bedroom. It now has more than 1,500 employees and reported assets on its platform of £136 billion for the year ended June 2021, an increase of about 30 per cent from 12 months before.

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