Here are the most important Family offices in Australia and what stocks they’re investing in

You may have heard of the term ‘family offices’ before. Family offices can be amongst the most important investors in ASX-listed companies, and any for that matter.

When business founders have built their wealth and move on from the business that made them rich, it begs the question of what should be done with it. So often, they choose to invest in the next generation of businesses, or perhaps a previous generation of businesses on the cusp of a new life.

Thorney Opportunities

This is Alex Waislitz’s family office. He is a billionaire investor who served on the board of Visy and other Pratt family companies. You can actually gain exposure to his investments yourself by Thorney Opportunities (ASX:TOP) which is ASX-listed. It has exposure to some ASX companies including Southern Cross Electrical Engineering (ASX:SXE), Ama Group (ASX:AMA), Earlypay (ASX:EPY) and Retail Food Group (ASX:RFG).

Since inception its portfolio has netted a return of 11.86% which is 2.56% ahead of the ASX Small Ordinaries Accumulation Index. It pays half-yearly dividends, paying out 2.55c per share in FY24 and 1.1c per share to start FY25. With the company obligated to release substantial shareholder notices whenever there’s a >1% change in any substantial holding, or if Thorney first becomes or ceases to be a substantial holder, there’s little secrecy as to what this family office is up to.

TOP’s investment philosophy is,’ to identify fundamentally mispriced or undervalued companies and combine that with constructive advocacy with board and management to implement change when required’.

Tatterang

This is Andrew Forrest’s family office – he’s the billionaire founder of Fortescue (ASX:FMG). Tatterang is the largest shareholder in the iron ore giant, owning over 33% of shares. It owns a wide variety of interests including in Bega Cheese (ASX:BGA) and Austal (ASX:ASB) – Tatterang chipped in $40m to the latter’s capital raising a few days ago to maintain its ~19% stake.

The Forrest family’s other invests include R. M. Williams, Minderoo, Squadron Energy agribusiness Harvest Road as well as various property and hospitality assets. It is noteable to have employed John Hartman as a director for several years – you may remember him as Oliver Curtis’ ‘partner in crime’ back in the day, but he was given a second chance and rebuilt his life over the years.

Victor Smorgan Group

Victor Smorgan (1913-2009) made his wealth through various industrial businesses, particularly in steel. His descendants maintain a family office to this day. While it does not make the headlines as often, and has a lot more private investments than in public companies, you can occasionally see VSG pop up as a substantial holder in an ASX company.

It made headlines in the AFR earlier this month for launching gold funds that will invest in undervalued gold miners. Newmont and Northern Star (ASX:NST) are two that were mentioned by equities boss Cameron Judd. Some of VSG’s publicly disclosed investments have included Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX), Red 5 (ASX:RED) and Vault Minerals (ASX:VAU).

Grok Ventures

Remember when Mike Cannon-Brooks forced an enmasse board resignation at AGL Energy (ASX:AGL) by convincing shareholders to vote against the proposed merger? Yes, it was through his family office that he bought into the company, and retains ownership to this day. He also owned shares in Tyro Payments (ASX:TYR) but sold out in mid-2023 for $77m.

These days, most of Grok’s ventures are unlisted. But we thought we’d include Grok on the list of family offices here because you never know when it might show up like it did at AGL Energy. No one would’ve seen that move coming in 2021.

Marinya Capital

This is one of many family offices of the Fairfax family, but Marinya is the one most focused on equities. It belongs to John Fairfax, his wife Libby and his children who split from other family members to form their own offices.

Amongst its investments include Guzman y Gomez (ASX:GYG) as well as Canva, which is privately owned but long floated as a candidate for an ASX-listing.

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