The decision to establish a dedicated family office is one of the most consequential a wealth-holding family can make. Done well, it provides a permanent institutional platform for investment management, tax optimisation, governance, and inter-generational wealth transfer. Done poorly, it creates complexity, cost, and regulatory exposure without commensurate benefit.
Why Mauritius for Family Offices
Mauritius occupies a distinctive position in the family office landscape. It is not a secrecy jurisdiction: it operates under full OECD and FATF standards, maintains automatic exchange of information under CRS, and has committed to the highest levels of regulatory transparency. What it offers instead is genuine structural efficiency: a favourable tax regime, an extensive DTAA network, a sophisticated legal framework drawn from both English common law and French civil law traditions, and a community of experienced professionals capable of supporting complex multi-jurisdictional structures.
Structure Options
A Mauritius family office can take several forms depending on the family's circumstances, the nature of their assets, and their governance objectives. The most common structures include a Global Business Company serving as the primary holding vehicle, a Private Trust Company where the family wishes to retain meaningful control over trust administration, and a foundation where the civil law concept of a separate patrimony is preferable to the trust concept.
For families with significant African or Asian investment portfolios, the GBC structure is typically the most efficient, providing direct access to Mauritius's treaty network while maintaining the flexibility to hold a diversified range of assets: listed equities, private equity, real estate, and alternative investments.
Substance and Governance
Modern family offices in Mauritius are substantive operations, not nominal structures. They maintain qualified boards with genuinely engaged independent directors, hold regular and properly minuted board meetings in Mauritius, employ local administrative and compliance staff, and maintain proper accounting records and audited financial statements.
Aurevya's Private Client practice specialises in the establishment and ongoing management of single and multi-family office structures, providing the full complement of director, company secretary, compliance, accounting, and advisory services to create a genuine operational presence that withstands regulatory scrutiny from any jurisdiction.