Deals

For World’s Wealthiest Families, Hunt Is on for Private Deals

  • High public equity valuations making family offices leery
  • Fidelity survey: 98% to boost or maintain direct investments
The Boca Raton Resort & ClubPhotographer: Matt Stroshane/Bloomberg
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An investment firm affiliated with Michael Dell agreed to buyBloomberg Terminal a posh Florida resort in April. For one tied to Tony Pritzker, it was a wastewater-treatment services company. And earlier this month, the family office associated with U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos took a stake in a European private equity firm.

The desire for direct private deals isn’t new, but the urgency among the super-rich to diversify and find long-term, benchmark-beating investments outside public equity markets is mounting.