Hedon Family Office: Building the 2026 Wealth Resilience Framework

Hedon Family Office has established itself as a trusted partner for entrepreneurial families and large European estates. With its dual expertise in global wealth engineering and investment strategy, the firm stands out for its rigorous, multi-criteria approach, essential for navigating complex jurisdictions such as France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Today, we give the floor to Yohann Derbyshire,CFA - Head of Investments at the firm and lecturer at the Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas, to decipher the challenges of a financial world undergoing profound change.

In an asset universe marked by geopolitical fragmentation and structurally shifting yields, the central issue for European families is no longer maximizing short-term performance, but building a true architecture of resilience.

^{Yohann Derbyshire,CFA - Head of Investments at Hedon Family Office.}

Looking at France, Belgium and Luxembourg, what are the major economic pillars that will shape 2026 for European families?

First of all, the new interest rate and inflation regime, in what is now an international context. In 2026, inflation is better controlled, but remains structurally higher than historical targets, with prudent central banks and differentiated monetary policies. This gives renewed importance to duration management, bond selection and credit, as well as to arbitrage between currency zones, particularly for multi-currency assets.

The year 2025 marked the end of a period when it was possible to obtain close to 4% in European Investment Grade without taking significant risk. In an increasingly constrained universe of returns, we need to diversify our sources of performance further, through active and selective management. This may involve a controlled reduction in liquidity, notably through private debt or alternative strategies (hedge funds), which provide decorrelation and regularity of performance. Conversely, certain asset classes whose main driver is high leverage or dependence on the cost of debt could be more challenged in the years ahead, in an environment of persistently higher interest rates than over the past decade.

Secondly, global allocation and currency risk are becoming major issues. The year 2025 was a concrete reminder of this: despite the solid performance of U.S. dollar-denominated markets, the sharp fall in the U.S. dollar significantly reduced returns for European investors. An international allocation can no longer be conceived without active currency management. The dollar remains a key currency in portfolios, but it can no longer be considered an automatic safe haven. Diversification of currency exposure and dynamic hedge management are becoming real levers of performance and capital protection.

Finally, geopolitical fragmentation and the recomposition of value chains. Deglobalization, trade tensions, targeted re-industrialization and economic sovereignty are redrawing the map of winners and losers. For European families, this reinforces the value of a truly diversified allocation - in zones, currencies and yield drivers - and of increased exposure to real and private assets (infrastructure, private debt, private equity), capable of capturing structural needs while providing decorrelation.
Furthermore, the high concentration of equity markets around a few major winners in artificial intelligence clearly raises the question, in terms of risk management, of the relevance of purely passive approaches to equities.

Given these challenges, how is the mission of a Multi-Family Office like Hedon evolving? Is it preservation or active diversification?

The mission of a Multi-Family Office like Hedon is evolving: we're no longer just managing portfolios, but building a genuine wealth resilience architecture.
Faced with more volatile, fragmented and complex markets, the central question is no longer "how to maximize short-term performance", but "how to avoid irreversible mistakes over the long term". In concrete terms, this evolution is reflected in three major directions, to which a recent, structuring transformation has been added.

Firstly, a strengthening of risk governance and management. This involves clear allocation rules, defined risk budgets, regular stress tests and rebalancing discipline. The aim is to secure the asset trajectory, regardless of market cycles.

Secondly, more active diversification, with an obsession for quality. By 2026, performance will no longer be driven by a single engine. Equity markets will remain buoyant, but highly polarized between technology stocks and more cyclical or value segments; bonds will remain attractive, but their yields will normalize; and private and alternative assets will play a central role, both as a source of performance and as a tool for diversification and decorrelation.
The coming years should see an increasing dispersion of performance, particularly in the unlisted alternative sphere. Our due diligence and monitoring processes must therefore be ever more robust in order to identify the best solutions.

Thirdly, the rise of "evergreen" private assets is transforming the way we think about portfolio liquidity. Althoughprivate assets are by definition a long-term, illiquid asset class, these evergreen vehicles offer long-term exposure to private markets - private equity, private debt, infrastructure - while offering progressive liquidity mechanisms. They enable us to move away from the overly binary opposition between liquid and illiquid assets, and integrate private assets as a structuring and managed component of allocation, rather than as a simple "closed block" frozen in time. Their integration into portfolios on a case-by-case basis, taking into account various factors (need for liquidity, fees, performance, sector exposure, etc.), is certainly a challenge for the coming years.

Finally, wealth engineering is becoming increasingly global. Our clients' personal situations are becoming more international, and so is our support: asset structuring, liquidity management, taxation, transmission and multi-jurisdictional coordination, particularly for families with assets in France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

So it's not a question of choosing between preservation and diversification. Today, preservation requires active, selective and controlled diversification - certainly not dispersion.

Looking beyond short cycles, what transitions do you consider essential for a multigenerational strategy?

Two transitions have become non-optional in a multigenerational wealth strategy.

• The technological transition, dominated by AI and digital sovereignty. AI is no longer a "sector", it's a layer of efficiency that will cut across all industries: healthcare, finance, industry, services. The challenge, for an asset, is to be exposed not only to technological "champions", but also to companies capable of integrating AI into their products, processes and productivity - while remaining attentive to valuations.

• Energy transition and climate adaptation, via real assets. It's not just about ESG. It's a question of infrastructure: networks, storage, energy efficiency, logistics, data centers, water, renovation... For a long-term investor, these themes translate well via infrastructure, for example, offering low correlation with equity markets and attractive returns.
  

As a lecturer at the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas, what key skill is essential to pass on in order to manage capital over several generations?

The key skill is the discipline of decision-making - that is, the ability to form an independent judgment, separating emotion from method.
Over several generations, performance doesn't come from a "one-off", but from the repetition of good choices: a coherent allocation, controlled diversification, rigorous risk control, clear governance and, above all, consistency in difficult times.

I stress the need for students to make up their own minds. Quick, simplistic analyses are often pitfalls, especially in an environment where information is overabundant and instantaneous. A good investor is not one who reacts quickly, but one who takes the time to understand, question and prioritize.

In a world increasingly dominated by analyses produced or assisted by artificial intelligence, critical thinking is becoming a central skill. AI is a powerful tool, but it does not replace judgment, responsibility or understanding of risks. Knowing how to read, challenge and contextualize an analysis is now just as important as producing it.

This also means developing in-depth financial skills, because capital management remains a core business, where understanding economic, financial and legal mechanisms is essential to making sustainable decisions.

Finally, I'd like to stress a fundamental point: stay curious - stay curious - stay curious. Intellectual curiosity is the key to everything. It enables us to avoid dangerous certainties, to adapt to an ever-changing world and to continue learning, which is undoubtedly the best guarantee for managing an estate over several generations.

One word to define the management mindset at Hedon Family Office for 2026?

Selectivity.
Because in 2026, there will be opportunities, but they won't be uniform: polarized equity markets, quality gaps in credit, divergent trajectories between European countries, and sometimes demanding valuations. Our job is to choose with a rigorous and solid process.

Why Hedon Family Office is redefining the standards of advisory services

In a financial world where complexity is becoming the norm, Hedon Family Office positions itself as an architect of protection and growth. By combining tactical agility on global markets with in-depth, multi-jurisdictional legal and tax analysis, the firm offers families a 360° view of their situation. It is this combination of rigorous selectivity and critical thinking that enables Hedon to transform technological and environmental transitions into genuine pillars of multi-generational performance.

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