Our Services
Southpac Group first brought innovative global wealth planning solutions to the market in 1982. Since then we have been connecting high-net-worth individuals and their families with global products, services and opportunities to help preserve their wealth and legacies.
We work with the best asset protection specialists in the most well-regulated markets across the world. With decades of shared experience within a trusted network of global professionals we meet the needs of sophisticated investors. We go beyond borders to protect and grow everything our clients have worked for.
Trustee and Fiduciary Services
Our core business for more than 30 years has been to provide trustee services to thousands of clients, through our affiliate trustee companies in the Cook Islands, Nevis and New Zealand.
As a trusted wealth planning partner, we appreciate the importance to clients of having a professional, suitably qualified, trustworthy and easily contactable trustee looking after their assets. We have a team of qualified professionals advising the Southpac trustee companies, who ensure that a Southpac trustee is a proactive trustee which fully understands how to fulfil its fiduciary responsibilities.
We have applied our longstanding fiduciary expertise as a trustee to other areas and are also able to offer corporate protector, director, manager, secretary and foundation council member services.
Offshore Trusts
The Cook Islands and Nevis set the gold standard for asset protection trust laws.
‘Day 1 Protection’ is available for assets settled into a trust before a creditor’s cause of action accrues, with a strict 1–2 year statute of limitations applying to other trust assets. Neither foreign judgments nor forced heirship claims are recognised, and robust privacy laws preserve the confidentiality of trust settlors and beneficiaries. These jurisdictions are particularly attractive for clients wishing to protect their assets from future potential creditors or frivolous lawsuits, or to exercise testamentary freedom which is not allowed in their home country.
New Zealand foreign trusts are available for clients unable to access Cook Islands or Nevis products. New Zealand foreign trusts offer unique tax advantages and can be used for asset protection, wealth management and succession planning.
More information on Cook Islands, Nevis and New Zealand trusts and the legislation which governs them is available here:
LLCs, IBCs and Foundations
Southpac’s Cook Islands and Nevis trustee companies also operate as registered agents in those jurisdictions and can register limited liability companies, international business companies and foundations for clients.
Nevis became a global leader in the offshore company formation space in the 1990s through the development of an LLC product which combines the benefits of flexibility and creditor protection. The Cook Islands subsequently developed its own LLC laws closely based on those of Nevis.
LLCs are frequently employed as part of a wider trust structure by clients wishing to maintain some level of control and involvement in the management of the trust fund. We are able to offer jurisdictional diversity within client structures by combining Cook Islands trusts with Nevis LLCs or vice versa.
For clients from jurisdictions unfamiliar with the LLC concept, IBCs are available in both the Cook Islands and Nevis. Both jurisdictions offer significant flexibility and permit individual shareholders, sole non-resident directors and no par value shares. There are no central registers of beneficial ownership.
Southpac can also provide registered agent and registered trust office services for IBCs and LLCs established as private trustee companies for clients wishing to exercise Cook Islands or Nevis trustee functions on their own account or through a third party.
Cook Islands and Nevis foundations are attractive products for those wishing to combine the asset protection features of a trust with a more streamlined civil law concept that imposes fewer fiduciary responsibilities. The Nevis multiform foundation affords a flexibility not seen in other foundation jurisdictions, and allows foundations to take on the form and share characteristics of other types of entities including trusts, LLCs and partnerships.
Investment and Banking Services
Southpac can set up investment portfolios in jurisdictions outside of your home country, whether on a standalone basis or as part of a trust/company structure.
We work with leading boutique investment advisors and private banks throughout the world to provide tailored investment solutions for our clients. The firms we use have been in business for decades and we have trusted relationships with them. The banks we use are typically non-lending and as a result have very secure balance sheets. We have relationships with banks in multiple jurisdictions, including Switzerland, the Cook Islands, Liechtenstein, Austria, Nevis, Belize and the USA. We are always looking for additional custodial partners who meet our stringent criteria.
Through understanding our clients’ circumstances and requirements we can introduce them to investment and custodial solutions to meet these needs.
We continually monitor investment portfolios to ensure that they perform above benchmark and meet clients’ investment objectives.
Accounting Services
Accounting across time zones and jurisdictions can make working in global markets a challenge. Outsourcing this responsibility to experienced professionals relieves that pressure and frees up your time to do the business that counts.
Southpac provides accounting solutions to save you time. We can prepare management accounts, periodic financial statements and special purpose reports in line with generally accepted accounting principles and international accounting standards.