Campden European Families in Business Forum

The European Families in Business Forum is Campden Wealth's European meeting for families who still own and run an operating business, as distinct from families whose wealth now sits mainly in a portfolio. Twenty-one editions have been held. Recent ones have looked at culture, communication and ownership, under the question of what the family enterprise of the future looks like.

Campden moves this forum around Europe rather than fixing it in one city, and it sits on a European calendar that also carries a family enterprise and innovation forum. If you are looking for the next edition, check the Campden events page for the current name and location rather than assuming the branding has stayed the same.

Who attends

Attendance is limited to qualifying family offices, family businesses and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. Campden describes the audience as Campden Club members alongside new principals and family members who take an active role in family office investment, private investors, and the chief executives and chief investment officers of family offices.

The wider Campden qualification rule applies. Applicants must be a family member or principal, an executive of a family or patrimonial business, an executive of a family foundation, or an executive of a family-controlled private investment office. Offices affiliated with a bank, a financial services firm or a corporation are not eligible through that route. Campden states that only people in those categories will qualify.

How access works

Campden Club members book their place through named contacts on the events team. Everyone else uses the qualify button on the Campden site or contacts the events team directly, and is assessed before a place is confirmed. Members of the Institute for Private Investors are not asked to complete the form.

No fee is published for this forum. Campden supplies terms to each qualifying applicant, so ask the events team rather than working from another event's pricing.

What attendees get

Campden sets out three things attendees should take away: a clearer view of whether their investments suit current conditions, an exchange of ideas with other leading families and with specialists on the risks and opportunities in front of them, and time with some of the largest family offices and wealth holders in Europe.

The distinguishing feature is the focus on the business itself. Most family office conferences treat the operating company as background and concentrate on the portfolio. This one puts ownership, communication between generations and the culture of the enterprise at the centre, which suits families whose main asset is still the company rather than the investments made with its proceeds. Corporate partners sponsor the forum, so it is not a strictly closed peer group, but the qualification rules keep families in the majority.