Societe Generale Private Banking is looking to offer club deals for family offices and holding companies through its new investment banking offering for ultra high net worth individuals.

Galeazzo Pecori Giraldi, head of the private investment banking at SocGen, said that he hopes that deals with several participants will enable investors to make bigger deals but with lower risk.

“Some acquisitions might be too large for one or two investors,” said Giraldi when expanding on the plans for a new private investment bank at a press conference in London. “They may also be too risky; maybe not the deal itself but a family office may already be exposed to the sector and does not like to have too much exposure.”

Giraldi also said that he believes that family offices and holding companies are increasingly interested in co-investing in private equity.

The tough economic climate and low returns have forced wealthy individuals to rethink the management of their wealth, Giraldi said when explaining the rationale behind the new operation, which combines the tools of a wealth manager with those of an investment bank and was launched earlier this month.

The UNHW segment is important for SocGen. For example, the firm's UK-based private banking operation, Societe Generale Private Banking Hambros, has 35 per cent of its client assets in that space, compared with the industry benchmark of 26 per cent.