比爾蓋茨的財富管家 Cascade Investment Bill Gates' wealth manager
Michael Larson is one of the most powerful men in US wealth management you have never heard of. He is the chief investment officer for Bill and Melinda Gates Investments (BMGI), and as such is in charge of managing Bill’s personal wealth through Cascade Investment, as well as handling the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust endowment. Despite his high-profile job, he works hard and successfully to stay out of the public eye — Cascade declined to speak for the purposes of this article.
邁克爾·拉森(Michael Larson)或許是你從未聽說過的美國財富管理界最具影響力的人物之一。他是比爾及梅琳達·蓋茨投資(Bill and Melinda Gates Investments, BMGI)的首席投資官，以此身份負責通過Cascade Investment管理蓋茨的個人財富，以及打理比爾及梅琳達·蓋茨信託基金(Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust)的受捐資產。雖然崗位備受矚目，但拉森努力成功地避開了公衆的視線——Cascade拒絕接受爲完成此稿而進行的採訪。
Bill Gates hired Larson 22 years ago to take over the investment of his personal wealth, which was about $5bn at the time. Since then Gates’s fortune has grown to around $80bn (of which he has given away around half) after Larson diversified the funds out of Microsoft, Gates’s software company, and into a broad range of investments.
22年前，比爾·蓋茨(Bill Gates)聘請了拉森接管其個人財富的投資，當時前者的資產約爲50億美元。自那時起，拉森將蓋茨的財富在他的軟件公司——微軟(Microsoft)以外進行廣泛的多樣化投資，蓋茨的財富已增至約800億美元（其中約一半已被捐出）。
Cascade is not a family office in the traditional sense and does not like to call itself one. It does not handle logistics, payroll or expenses for the foundation and is purely an asset management firm that invests Gates’s personal wealth. BMGI is an organisation that manages the portfolios of Cascade, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust and other entities, but again it does not label itself as a family office.
Cascade不是傳統意義上的家族理財室(family office)，它也不喜歡被這樣稱呼。它不負責爲蓋茨的信託基金管理後勤、工資或者費用支出，而完全是一家爲蓋茨個人財富做投資的資產管理公司。BMGI負責管理Cascade、比爾及梅琳達·蓋茨信託基金及其他實體的投資組合，但它也不會給自己貼上家族理財室的標籤。
The way BMGI is structured allows the foundation to separate its programme work from its investments, say people close to the organisation. This has meant that more money has been created to go into the foundation’s mission to fight disease and improve education in the developing world.
接近該機構的人士稱，BMGI的結構可以讓蓋茨的基金會將慈善工作與投資分開。這意味着賺到的更多的錢都用在了該基金會的使命上：對抗疾病、提升發展中國家教育水平。
Based in Kirkland, Washington, Cascade shies away from media attention. It declined to comment on its investment strategies but it is known to invest globally and across many asset classes. Its five largest publicly disclosed equity holdings are: Canadian National Railway; Republic Services, the waste removal company; Ecolab, the disinfectant maker; Femsa, the drinks group; and Deere, the maker of agricultural machinery.
總部位於華盛頓州科克蘭德(Kirkland)的Cascade避開了媒體的關注。該公司拒絕對其投資策略進行置評，但衆所周知的是，它在全球範圍內的許多資產類別都有投資。該公司公開披露的5宗最大規模持股涉及的公司包括：加拿大國家鐵路公司(Canadian National Railway)、垃圾處理公司Republic Services、消毒劑製造商Ecolab、飲料集團Femsa以及農業機械製造商Deere。
Cascade has holdings in property and non-technology companies. It holds around a 4 per cent stake in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway investment group, owns 47 per cent of the Four Seasons hotel company and about 6 per cent of Bunzl, the distribution and outsourcing group. In August, it increased its stake in Strategic Hotels and Resorts to 9.8 per cent.
Cascade在地產以及非科技公司也持有股份。它持有沃倫巴菲特(Warren Buffett)旗下伯克希爾哈撒韋(Berkshire Hathaway)投資集團約4%的股份，擁有四季酒店(Four Seasons) 47%的股份，以及分銷與外包服務集團Bunzl約6%的股份。今年8月，Cascade將其在Strategic Hotels and Resorts持有的股份提升至9.8%。
Under Larson, Cascade has focused some of its attention on UK-listed stocks. In 2008, it bought a 3 per cent share of Carpetright, the flooring retailer, but has since reduced its stake. It has also invested in Diageo, the distiller, and JJB Sports, the retailer.
在拉森的領導下，Cascade將一部分注意力集中在英國上市的股票上。2008年，Cascade收購了地板零售商Carpetright 3%的股份，但後來又進行了減持。它還對英國酒商帝亞吉歐(Diageo)以及零售商JJB Sports進行了投資。
Cascade does not publicly disclose its performance results but it has been reported that because of Larson’s relatively conservative strategy, Cascade’s losses in the 2008 financial crisis were smaller than the industry average for the full year. Since 1995, Larson has delivered a compound annual return of around 11 per cent.
Cascade未公開其業績成果，但據報道，由於拉森相對保守的策略，在2008年金融危機期間Cascade的損失低於該行業的全年平均水平。自1995年以來，拉森實現了約11%的年複合回報率。
Like Cascade, many single family investment firms are moving away from the term “family office”. Catherine Tillotson, managing partner of Scorpio Partnership, the consultancy, says: “A tour around London’s elite wealth management boutiques reveals the growing popularity of the term ‘private investment office’. Once loosely described as family offices or multi-family offices, this linguistic shift aims to put a finer point on their capabilities as independent advisers on family wealth.”
像Cascade一樣，許多單家族投資公司也在擺脫“家族理財室”的稱謂。諮詢公司Scorpio Partnership執行合夥人凱瑟琳舠洛森(Catherine Tillotson)說：“到倫敦的精英財富管理圈轉一轉，就可以看到‘私人投資理財室(private investment office)’一詞越來越受歡迎。它們曾經被寬泛地形容爲家族理財室或多家族理財室，這種用詞變化旨在更明確地指出他們作爲家族財富獨立顧問的能力。”
This change is not only happening among high-end investment firms; lawyers and accountants too are coining new phrases. “Family business consulting”, “private company services” and even “strategic philanthropy advice” have joined the lexicon of wealth management for the extremely rich, she says.
這種變化不僅發生在高端的投資公司，律師、會計師們也在創造新用語。“家族企業諮詢(family business consulting)”、“私人公司服務(private company services)”甚至“戰略慈善建議(strategic philanthropy advice)”都加入了爲頂級富豪管理財富的專用詞中，她說。
What they signal is that family wealth investment management is big business. Across the world, Tillotson believes there are about 79,000 very rich individuals (those with personal wealth greater than $50m) who control roughly $19tn in assets. Many of them are business-owning families or those so-called “financial families”, who have sold operating businesses. When it comes to managing that money, they want to apply the best possible investment advice.
這些變化顯示出，家族財富投資管理是筆大生意。蒂洛森認爲，全世界約有7.9萬名大富豪（個人財富超過5000萬美元），他們控制着約19萬億美元的資產。他們中很多都是擁有企業的家族或者是出售運營企業的所謂的“金融家族”。當需要管理這些財富時，他們希望得到最好的投資建議。
“To this end they are increasingly sharing their experiences with other families via specialist peer networks, events and publications, and with their advisers,” says Tillotson. “So where once the term ‘family office’ was synonymous with the isolated management of an individual family’s wealth, today it perhaps best describes a growing body of professional knowledge and an industry in its own right that includes both specialist and general practitioners.”
“爲此，他們越來越多地通過專家同行網絡、活動和出版物、以及他們的顧問與其他家族分享自己的經歷，”蒂洛森說，“因此，曾經等同於孤立管理單一家族財富的‘家族理財室’一詞，如今也許可以最恰當地描述一套越來越龐雜的專業知識以及一個本身囊括專才和通才從業者的行業。”
The family office market can take many forms, from a single former executive assistant helping a patriarch/matriarch, to a 40-person professional investment organisation that also deals with personal affairs.
家族理財室可以採取多種形式，可以是一位前行政助理來協助家族負責人，也可以是一個40人的專業投資機構在爲家族理財的同時還打理私人事務。
Bill Woodson, north America head of the family office group at Citi Private Bank, says: “While family offices take different forms, the challenges they face are very similar and, as a result, the ultimate solutions they adopt as they evolve tend to be similar, although addressed with varying levels of focus, staffing and professionalism.”
花旗私人銀行(Citi Private Bank)家族理財部北美負責人比爾伍德森(Bill Woodson)說：“雖然家族理財室的形式不同，但他們面臨的挑戰非常相似，因此，他們發展到後來採取的最終解決方案會趨於相似，儘管這些解決方案在焦點、人員及專業性上的水平不同。”
He adds that family offices are changing and evolving in a number of fundamental ways. First, an industry has developed around supporting family offices. This allows them to outsource functions previously done in-house.
他補充說，家族理財室正在經歷一些根本的轉變、發展。首先，圍繞家族理財室已經發展出一項支持性產業。這使他們可以將此前的內部職能外包出去。
Second, there are more family offices as a result of the increase in wealth globally and greater information is available about best practice and resources.
第二，由於全球財富增長，以及關於最佳實踐和資源的更完善信息易於獲得，誕生了更多的家族理財室。
This helps family offices “professionalise” earlier than they would have before.
這有助於家族理財室較之以前更早地實現“專業化”。
Third, Woodson adds, the generational shift in control of family wealth has changed what family offices focus on and how they are structured.
第三，伍德森補充說，家族財富的代際控制轉移改變了家族理財室的關注點及結構。
“Younger family members tend to, at a higher rate than before, focus on pursuing philanthropy earlier and on integrating philanthropy into a family’s investment activities,” he says.
“比以前更高比例的年輕家族成員傾向於更早專注從事慈善事業，並將慈善整合到家族的投資活動中，”他說。
