How Should a Family Office Build GP Relationships?

Last reviewed: 20 October 2026

The mechanics of building relationships with fund managers are the same in every market: decide which funds your legal status lets you see, meet managers through a few repeatable channels, and test them over time. What differs is the family office's own legal status and the investor test it must meet. Singapore has a dedicated regime for single family offices, and the U.S. has a federal exclusion from adviser regulation. In the other seven markets covered here, we found no dedicated regime, so the investor-eligibility test matters most.

Educational content — not legal, tax or investment advice. Full note at the end of this article.

"How should a family office in Australia, France or Singapore build relationships with GPs?" gets asked market by market, but the answer has two layers. The first layer is universal and we have covered it elsewhere. The second layer is local, and it is mostly about rules: what a family office is allowed to be, what it must qualify as to invest in a private fund, and where family offices and managers actually meet. This article covers the second layer for nine markets, and says plainly where we could not verify something.

What is the same in every market?

Three things hold everywhere. First, a family office needs a way to filter inbound fund manager outreach, because the volume is high and most of it is irrelevant. Second, it has to decide whether family office conferences are worth the time compared with one-to-one meetings. Third, it should understand who brings it fund managers and what each of them does and does not do. For family offices outside the main financial centers, our piece on how they find GPs in growth markets adds the regional angle.

Singapore

Singapore is the one market with a dedicated regime. The Monetary Authority of Singapore's licensing-exemption framework for single family offices, which its FAQ indicates took effect on 15 June 2026, exempts an office managing only family money from fund-management licensing. Money from key employees is allowed up to 10% of assets. The office must be Singapore-incorporated and bank with a MAS-licensed bank, and a new office files a notice of commencement within 14 days. Existing offices have until 15 June 2027. The practical rule for an office that invests in funds: the exemption covers only the family's own capital, so pooling outside money loses it.

Separately, Singapore runs tax incentive schemes for family-owned investment vehicles (sections 13O and 13U of the Income Tax Act). MAS reported more than 2,000 single family offices holding those incentives in a written reply on 5 August 2026. That count excludes offices that did not apply, so it understates the total.

Where family offices meet managers. The Wealth Management Institute ran its Global-Asia Family Office Summit on 5–6 October 2026, with an invitation-only single family office forum. The Singapore Venture & Private Capital Association has a Family Office Committee that runs family-office-only roundtables.

Japan

We found no family-office regime in Japan. The rule that shapes access sits on the manager's side. A manager can avoid full registration with a filing under Article 63 if the fund has at least one qualified institutional investor and no more than 49 other specified persons (Financial Services Agency, fund page updated 1 May 2025). A family office that is not a qualified institutional investor occupies one of those capped places. Qualified-institutional-investor status can be obtained by notification to the FSA, and the ordinance text we reviewed (a January 2021 file) set a threshold of ¥1 billion in securities; check the current version before relying on it.

Where family offices meet managers. We did not confirm a family-office-specific event in Japan. The PERE Tokyo Forum (10–11 June 2027) offers complimentary investor passes to single family offices. For how Japanese allocators judge a foreign manager, see our piece on that decision.

South Korea

A Maeil Business Newspaper report of 13 October 2026 says Korea does not yet fully permit single family offices as stock companies, and that activity runs mainly through multi-family offices at banks and brokerages. Treat that as a press report, not a statute. A law-firm guide (Chambers, 5 February 2026) says general private funds accept professional investors and non-professionals investing at least KRW 300 million. It sets no family-office category, so a wealthy individual or holding company simply has to meet one of the tests.

Where family offices meet managers. The PERE Seoul Forum (28 September 2027) offers complimentary passes to single family offices. We found no Korean family-office association event.

The Philippines

We found no family-office regime. Access turns on the "qualified buyer" exemption in the Securities Regulation Code implementing rules (Rule 10.1.11 of the 2015 rules), which permits sales to registered qualified buyers, with private placements capped at 19 persons in 12 months. A 2025 SEC circular (Memorandum Circular No. 11, 9 September 2025) amended these rules, so the peso thresholds in the 2015 text may have changed. Confirm current figures with Philippine counsel.

Where family offices meet managers. We found no family-office-specific event in the market. The family-office offerings we saw were bank products, not peer forums.

Australia

No family-office regime or tax incentive turned up. The test that matters is wholesale-client status. ASIC's guidance gives an individual test of net assets of at least A$2.5 million, or gross income of at least A$250,000 in each of the last two years, and family entities can qualify through a controlling person who meets it. A proposal to index those thresholds was reported in 2024, and we could not confirm whether it was adopted.

Rainmaker Information and Family Office Access reported on 17 September 2026 that they had identified 133 active offices, 99 of which reported funds under management, with a total of at least A$323 billion. The data is partly reported and the methodology is not described.

Where family offices meet managers. Campden Wealth's 2nd Australia Family Enterprise and Office Forum runs in Sydney on 9–10 November 2026, limited to qualifying family principals, family offices and private investors.

France

France has no dedicated family-office regime. The 118th Congress of French Notaries report (updated 31 January 2022) says family-office activity is regulated by no specific text. Advisers who serve several families generally use the investment-adviser status supervised by the AMF; a single-family employee structure sits outside it. The line is the activity, not the label. Professional funds can accept non-professional investors subscribing at least €100,000 under AMF rules, a threshold we have not re-read in the current text.

The best French data is the AFFO–EY barometer, a self-selected survey of offices in the AFFO network. Its 11th edition (reported 24 June 2026) covers offices representing 928 families and puts private equity at 34% of 2025 allocations, 20% through funds and 14% direct. The previous edition, with a different sample, showed 37.5% in 2024, of which 28.2% was direct and 9.4% through funds. The two samples differ, so read it as a direction (more fund investing, less direct), not a trend line.

Where family offices meet managers. The Association Française du Family Office runs a Family Office Day; the 2025 edition drew about 250 attendees in Paris.

Italy

We found no dedicated regime. Trade press says regulation turns on the service: individual investment advice requires registration with the OCF or authorization from CONSOB, while coordinating professionals without advising stays within those professions' rules. For reserved alternative funds, the investor must be professional or a non-professional investing at least €500,000. Since 30 March 2022 a €100,000 minimum is allowed only through advice and capped at 10% of the investor's financial portfolio. That comes from law-firm commentary, so confirm the consolidated text.

The Politecnico di Milano's family-office observatory, as reported in the press, counted 244 family offices at 1 June 2025 (126 single, 96 multi, 22 bank-origin), up from 222 at the previous census. We could not open the report itself.

Where family offices meet managers. The 6th Annual Meeting di Studio for Family Offices was held in Milan on 16 June 2026, organized by Itinerari Previdenziali with Intesa Sanpaolo IMI CIB as sponsor.

Brazil

We found no family-office-specific rule and no credible count of offices. The eligibility test is the Securities Commission's investor classification (CVM Resolution 30 of 2021): a professional investor holds financial investments above R$10 million and signs a written declaration, and a qualified investor holds above R$1 million with a declaration. Legal persons can qualify, which makes a family office's holding vehicle a plausible route. We read these figures in secondary quotations of the resolution, so confirm against the text.

Where family offices meet managers. ABVCAP's annual congress is the main private-equity and venture gathering (2025: 10–11 June in São Paulo, with more than 600 attendees). We found nothing stating that family offices have a dedicated track.

The United States, including New York

The U.S. has a federal definition. Under SEC Rule 202(a)(11)(G)-1, a family office is excluded from the definition of an investment adviser if it serves only "family clients," is wholly owned by family clients and controlled by family members or entities, and does not hold itself out to the public as an adviser. For investing in private funds, Regulation D matters more: a family office with more than US$5 million in assets under management, not formed to acquire the offered securities, and directed by someone with the knowledge to evaluate the investment, is an accredited investor (Rule 501(a)(12)), and its family clients can qualify through it (Rule 501(a)(13)).

We found no New York-specific family-office rule, so we do not state one. A fund manager approaching a New York office should ask counsel about state-level requirements. Deloitte Private's estimate (September 2024) put single family offices at about 8,030 worldwide and 3,180 in North America, without a disclosed methodology. For the manager's side of approaching U.S. wealth networks, see how a fund manager from abroad gets into U.S. home offices.

Where family offices meet managers. The Global Private Capital Conference (GPCA, with the IFC) was held in New York on 11–13 May 2026, with family offices among its participants and an emerging-markets focus.

How do the nine compare?

What did we leave out, and why?

We did not publish family-office counts for Japan, Korea, the Philippines or Brazil, because we found no official count and the market-research figures varied too widely to trust. We did not state a New York rule, because we found none. We left out several events whose dates we could not confirm. Where a threshold came from a secondary source, the text says so. This page will be reviewed as primary sources are checked.

Frequently asked questions

How should a family office in Singapore build relationships with GPs?

Start with the legal footing: a single family office investing only family money can rely on the MAS licensing exemption, and one that pools outside capital cannot. Then use the channels that exist, such as the Wealth Management Institute's summit and the SVCA's Family Office Committee, and screen inbound outreach.

How should a family office in Japan build relationships with GPs?

Know where you sit in a manager's investor group: Japanese funds that avoid registration cap non-institutional investors at 49, so a family office that is not a qualified institutional investor occupies one of those places. Relationships are typically built through patient, in-person contact.

How should a family office in South Korea build relationships with GPs?

Single family offices are not yet fully permitted as stock companies, according to an October 2026 press report, so much activity runs through multi-family offices at banks and brokers. A family office needs to meet the professional-investor or minimum-investment test for the fund it wants to join.

How should a family office in the Philippines build relationships with GPs?

Qualified-buyer status under the Securities Regulation Code rules decides which private offerings you can see, and the thresholds were amended in 2025. We found no family-office-specific forum, so introductions and direct outreach carry more weight.

How should a family office in Australia build relationships with GPs?

Confirm wholesale-client status first. Then use forums such as Campden Wealth's Australia Family Enterprise and Office Forum in Sydney, which is limited to qualifying family principals and offices.

How should a family office in France build relationships with GPs?

France has no dedicated family-office regime, so the activity decides whether a licence is needed. The AFFO network and its Family Office Day are the main peer channel, and its barometer shows family offices moving toward fund investing.

How should a family office in Italy build relationships with GPs?

Check whether you meet the professional-investor test or the €500,000 route for reserved funds. The annual Meeting di Studio for Family Offices in Milan is a dated, recurring meeting point.

How should a family office in Brazil build relationships with GPs?

Qualified or professional investor status, with a signed declaration, opens private offerings, and a holding vehicle can qualify. ABVCAP's congress is the main private-equity gathering, though it is industry-wide rather than family-office-specific.

How should a family office in New York build GP relationships?

Federal rules decide the basics: the family-office exclusion from adviser regulation and Regulation D accredited-investor status. We found no New York-specific family-office rule. Conferences such as the Global Private Capital Conference bring offices and managers together.

Educational content only. This article was researched and drafted with AI assistance, reviewed for accuracy before publication. It explains publicly available regulation and public data for general information, current as of the "Last reviewed" date shown above. It is not legal, tax, investment or compliance advice, and no reader should act on it without engaging qualified counsel in the jurisdictions in question. Private Capital Development LLC is not a law firm, and is not a placement agent or broker-dealer. We connect fund managers and institutional investors through relationship facilitation on a flat-fee retainer.

About Randy Mitchell. Randy Mitchell spent 13 years (2001–2014) with the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration, and has organized more than 150 GP/LP introductory sessions across 45 cities on six continents. Private Capital Development LLC introduces fund managers to institutional investors globally on a flat-fee retainer — it is not a placement agent and does not distribute funds.

If family offices are on your target list: our Concierge program provides ongoing one-to-one introductions of managers to institutional investors, including family offices, on a flat monthly retainer.

Change log — 20 October 2026: first publication. Sources include the MAS single-family-office FAQ and parliamentary replies, the Japan FSA fund page, 17 CFR 275.202(a)(11)(G)-1 and 17 CFR 230.501, the AFFO–EY barometer, and organizer pages for the events named. Items drawn from secondary sources are labeled in the text.