According to PwC's Global Family Office Deals Study 2025, 69% of family office investments in the first half of 2025 took the form of a club deal. That is a remarkable number for something that operates in near-total silence.
What a club deal is, and what it is not
A club deal is a co-investment arrangement between a small number of single family offices. One family leads: it identifies the opportunity, conducts primary due diligence, and structures the transaction. A handful of trusted co-investors participate alongside, often on the basis of a single conversation, because the relationship has been built over years.
The types of deal that take this form are almost always large: full acquisitions of private businesses, public-to-private transactions, and significant infrastructure or real estate positions. These are deals where a single family office might not want to take the full position alone, whether for concentration reasons, for the additional expertise a co-investor brings, or simply because sharing the position reduces the cost of due diligence.
A club deal it is not a fund raise. There is no prospectus, no investor presentation, no placement agent, no marketing of any kind. The investor pool is never announced. Everything happens quietly, within a circle built over years of shared transactions and shared trust.
Why families use them
The structural advantages of a club deal over a fund are significant. Families retain full governance rights. There is no fee layer between the investor and the asset. The J-curve is eliminated: capital goes directly into the deal, not into a fund waiting to be called. And the co-investors are people the lead family has already tested: people who understand the long-term logic of the transaction, will not force a premature exit, and bring complementary expertise to bear.
The "if it is good enough for you, it is good enough for me" dynamic that governs co-investment decisions is not naïve. It is rational. When you have watched a co-investor operate over ten years, you do not need a full second due diligence. You are effectively delegating to someone whose judgment you have already validated.
The access problem, and why it matters
None of this is available to a family that has not done the work of building the right relationships. Club deals do not circulate. They are not listed on any platform. A family that has been in the room for twenty years (present at the dinners, known for following through, trusted to hold a position and not create complications) will see a consistent pipeline. A family that has not will not.
This is one of the less discussed structural advantages of the single family office: the capacity, over time, to build the kind of network that generates proprietary deal flow. It is also one of the arguments against outsourcing too much, too early. Trust, in this context, is genuinely the real currency. It is not a metaphor.
Frequently asked questions
What is a club deal in a family office context?
A club deal is a co-investment arrangement in which several single family offices join forces to acquire a stake in a private business, execute a public-to-private transaction, or invest in a large infrastructure or real estate project. Unlike traditional private equity funds, club deals involve no public capital raise, no formal marketing, and no external fund manager. The lead family identifies the opportunity, does the primary due diligence, and invites a small number of trusted co-investors to participate. According to PwC's Global Family Office Deals Study 2025, 69% of family office investments in the first half of 2025 took this form.
Why do family offices prefer club deals over private equity funds?
Club deals offer family offices control, speed, and alignment that fund structures cannot match. Families co-investing directly maintain full visibility into the asset, share in all governance decisions, and avoid the fee layers and return-dilution of fund structures. They also invest alongside people they already trust (and who share the same long-term horizon) rather than alongside anonymous limited partners. The J-curve effect is eliminated: capital is deployed directly into the asset, not held in a fund waiting to be called.
How does a family office get access to club deals?
Club deals do not circulate publicly. There is no deal platform, no marketing, no investor pool announcement. They are offered within circles built over years: families that have co-invested before, advisers who have been trusted in prior transactions, and operators who have worked alongside the lead family. Access is earned through track record and relationship, not through applying to a fund. This is one reason why early-stage relationship-building is a strategic priority for serious family offices.