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Families to meet in Barcelona to celebrate the 20th annual European Families in Business Forum

Campden Wealth’s 20th European Families In Business Forum
The European city built on family business plays host to Campden Wealth’s flagship forum on September 19-20, 2023.
By Glen Ferris

The Spanish city of Barcelona is all set to welcome Campden Wealth’s 20th European Families In Business Forum, in the heart of a bustling Spanish community of successful entrepreneurial families and established businesses. 

Taking place from September 19-20 at the Majestic Hotel & Spa, the forum celebrates two decades of presenting the pinnacle of multi-generational, ultra-high-net-worth education and networking and offering a private safe-harbour environment with shared-knowledge and best-practice insights for the world’s leading business families. 

Jaime Grego-Mayor
Forum chairman Jaime Grego-Mayor

Family business is not only critical to Spain’s infrastructure but also engrained into the very fabric of society. As such, the forum, which this year focusses on ‘Family, ownership and business’ takes place at a time when principals are considering their succession objectives for the family business just as they face a growing number of challenges. 

Campden Wealth’s Family Business Research highlights the imminent transition of family businesses globally. In Spain, 89% of Spanish companies are family-owned and 65% of these are first generation. Out of every 100 family business that approach the second generation, only 30 survive, and of these, only 15 continue until the third generation. 

The future of work is being radically challenged by new technologies and concepts, which is impacting global markets at a lightning pace. Understanding these systems, their influence, and integrating them within the business and the family is essential if both are to survive. 

While an increasing number of large-cap private equity firms are courting families, offering to finance their operations with the promise of strategic alignment, is there a right time when the family should seek fresh external input during such global and economic change?

Campden Wealth’s 20th European Families In Business Forum presenters
Speakers at Campden Wealth’s 20th European Families In Business Forum, include (clockwise from top left) David Lladró Roig, Anne Kirstine Riemann, Manfredi D'Ovidio, Ulrich Schmid-Maybach, Pepe Uriach and Mircea Tudor

The forum, which will be chaired by former board vice-president of Leti Pharma Jaime Grego-Mayor, also features a host of business family luminaries, including: Ulrich Schmid-Maybach, president & founder of the Maybach Foundation; Manfredi D'Ovidio, chairman of Crystal Cruises; David Lladró Roig, principal of the Lladró family; Anne Kirstine Riemann, principal and former CEO of Riemann Trading, Pepe Uriach, sixth-generation family member of the Uriach family; and businessman and inventor Mircea Tudor.

Topics being covered include succession planning, governance, stewardship, Next-Gen retention, reputation and relevance, digital transformation, internationalisation and environmental impact.

For further information on The 20th Families in Business Forum, held in Barcelona, Spain, from September 19-20, click here or email Liam Smith on liamsmith@campdenwealth.com.

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