U.S. family offices were opting for larger deals in 2024, and they favor club deals over investing alone. These are some key takeaways from the recently released U.S. version of PwC’s 2024 Global Family Office Deals Study.
The study, which covers findings for the year that ended in September 2024, found family offices were increasingly interested in larger deals (more than $500 million). As deal sizes grow, family offices need more operational expertise and clearly defined governance and strategy for their investments. They also need deep knowledge of the sectors where they’re investing.
It’s not clear whether this trend toward larger deals — which are often associated with stabilization in the economy — will continue in 2025, however.
“We have a very volatile stock market at this point,” said Jonathan Flack, PwC’s Global and U.S. Family Office and Family Business Leader. “In previous years, in periods of volatility and uncertainty, the size of the deals went down.”
That doesn’t mean there won’t be deals.
“Families transact in all types of environments,” Flack said. “I would expect smaller deals given the volatility in the market.”
Club deals have grown in popularity since a decade ago and now account for more than 70% of U.S. family office transactions. These deals allow family offices to coinvest alongside trusted partners — which could be other families, private equity firms, venture groups or other single investors — giving them access to larger opportunities and a way to diversify their risk. “Over the past five to six years, because of the volatility of the private equity space, private equity has made a lot of changes to how they go to market. They are looking for partner with family offices rather than having to raise capital from banks. Families end up being good partners because they tend to be long-term oriented,” Flack said. “I would expect to see more club deals — families like group investing when there is a lot of volatility.”
