Evidence
Client notes
Comments from private investors and family office principals who commissioned risk and drawdown work with us. Names are shortened at client request.
Voices from recent engagements
“They traced three overlapping equity themes that none of our monthly packs had flagged. The drawdown reconstruction alone changed how we size new names.”— Eleanor M., family office, Kensington · Portfolio risk & drawdown review
“Useful, though denser than I expected for a first review. Worth reading twice before the follow-up call.”— James R., private investor, Surrey · Portfolio risk & drawdown review
“The quarterly notes are short on purpose. When our credit sleeve approached the threshold we had set, the call happened the same week — that mattered more than another glossy pack.”— Priya S., trustee, Edinburgh · Ongoing drawdown monitoring
“Before we funded the second private credit line, their memo asked the awkward overlap questions our manager had soft-pedalled. We still proceeded, but with a smaller ticket.”— Anonymous principal, Home Counties · Pre-allocation risk assessment
Case sketch: inheritance consolidation
A newly consolidated book across two UK brokers and one overseas custodian arrived after a parent’s estate settled. Headline performance looked acceptable; the client felt every dip more sharply than friends quoting the FTSE.
We reconstructed drawdowns over eight years, aligning incomplete overseas statements as far as dates allowed. The deepest trough sat in a cluster of UK mid-cap and Europe ex-UK holdings that had been added piecemeal. The written map showed how those names moved together in 2020 and again in 2022 — something the separate broker packs never placed on one page.
The client kept their adviser for day-to-day decisions. Our role ended at the close-out session, with monitoring thresholds handed to the adviser for ongoing use.
Case sketch: pre-funding pause
A family office planned a sizeable commitment to a long/short equity fund. Our pre-allocation memo compared the fund’s published drawdown history with the office’s existing long equity sleeve. Overlap in factor language was higher than the pitch materials suggested. The office reduced the first close and asked the manager for a clearer capacity letter — a delay of three weeks, and a smaller initial cheque.
Commission similar work if you are preparing a review, a monitoring retainer, or a pre-allocation memo.