Family offices pause dealmaking in March on trade war fears

Published Fri, Apr 4 202511:29 AM EDT

Hayley Cuccinello @in/hayleycuccinello/@HCuccinello

Key Points

Investment firms of the ultra-rich paused their deal-making in March, with a few notable exceptions, like Len Blavatnik's Access Industries.
Family offices made only 40 direct deals in March, a drop of 45% year-over-year and 22% decline from February, according to Fintrx.
Fearing a trade war, high-net-worth investors are reexamining their portfolio companies and worrying about the operating businesses responsible for their wealth.

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC's Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high net worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. Private investment firms of the ultra-rich dialed back their deal-making in March as President Donald Trump 's tariffs loomed large. Last month, single-family offices made 40 direct investments, a 45% plunge year-over-year, according to data provided exclusively to CNBC by Fintrx, a private wealth intelligence platform. Investments also dropped 22% month-to-month, accounting for February having three fewer days than March. There were a few exceptions. Euclidean Capital, the family office of late hedge fund mogul Jim Simons , announced its first investment since December. In March, Euclidean Capital participated in a $60 million fundraise for Zeitview, a startup that uses drone imagery and artificial intelligence to inspect infrastructure like wind turbines and solar panels. Dubai Holding, as part of a consortium, completed its acquisition of Nord Anglia Education in a transaction valuing the private-school operator at $14.5 billion. The investment conglomerate, which is owned by the ruling family of Dubai, was joined by institutional investors including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Here are five noteworthy deals this month by family offices with at least $5 billion in assets: Trump imposed a far-reaching tariff policy on Wednesday that includes a baseline 10% duty on nearly every country, with rates reaching as high as 46% in the case of Vietnam . In the weeks preceding the announcement, many families paused to evaluate how their portfolio companies may be impacted by tariffs, according to Vicki Odette, partner at Haynes Boone. Odette, who works with family offices and investment funds, said her clients are considering whether their investments will be able to make distributions or successfully exit. Family offices can also move at a slower pace as they face fewer counter-bidders during this lull, she added. At the same time, many families are reluctant to deploy as much capital, concerned that the trade war will impact the operating businesses responsible for their wealth, Odette said. "There's stress on both sides," she told CNBC. This uncertainty is also felt overseas, according to Odette, who works with Middle Eastern families who frequently make investments in the U.S. and Europe. "They're looking at America and saying, 'OK, how is this going to impact everything that's going on in the world?'" she said. Family offices aren't sitting on their hands, however. She has noticed an uptick in interest in private credit funds of short-term loans. "All these families are very opportunistic," Odette said.