In advance of the event, Delano spoke with Rajaa Mekouar, founder & managing partner at Calista Direct Investors. She moderates the “Family offices as private assets investors” panel, at 11:05am.

Aaron Grunwald: What do you want the audience to get most from the “Family offices as private assets investors” session?

: It would be great to demystify both FOs as a hard to access investor base and private assets as an opaque asset class, bringing them closer to the participants.

From your point of view, what will be the greatest opportunity for family offices and private assets in Luxembourg next year?

Regardless of and before tackling the market opportunity set, it is managing the downcycle across the board that the Luxembourg financial marketplace will most likely have to focus on. This, in turn, will naturally generate value-creative situations for investors.

What will be the greatest challenges?

As ever, short-term opportunism associated with panic-induced decisions in buying/selling assets, and the consequences on staffing and investing for long-term growth.

Aside from your own talk at the Alfi event, which session are you most looking forward to hearing, and why?

Every session matters, as it helps chart the course of how private assets are evolving as an investment class that remains relatively niche in the greater scheme of things.