FAMILY OFFICE PROFILE AN INTERVIEW WITH ARADHNA GUPTA DAYAL CIO, Regal Ford Asia Family Office and Founder & CEO, Access Alts Asia Please tell us about your family business. I am the fourth-generation family member of one of the oldest landowning families in northern India, with operations in agriculture, gas, logistics and construction. My grandfather, Dr Sriram Gupta, was a well-known philanthropist who gave away 80% of his wealth to his people and lobbied for girl education, eradication of dowry and innovation in tech. I got married rather early, at the age of 20, and moved to Hong Kong, which is where I set up my family office, Regal Ford Asia, in the late 1990s. This made us one of the first family offices out of Greater China and as the first female CIO, I truly had to earn my stripes in what was a highly male dominated world. 1 18 8
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Fortunately, we discovered a niche in property investing very early on, took risks and invested during every Asian financial crisis including SARS, thereby building a solid portfolio spanning high-end residential, agriculture, commercial and industrial real estate across Asia and Middle East. Four years back, after my kids left for boarding school, I began my entrepreneurial journey by setting up Access Alts Asia, the first Asia-focused, cross-border investment club, which has now grown to over 300 thoughtful global investors with collective investible assets of over $1 trillion. As a group we are 4 a.m. buddies, and actively look at unique investment opportunities all the way from Shanghai to Silicon Valley.
