Every Legacy Needs to be Preserved

“A legacy is built over a lifetime, but it deserves to outlive lifetimes, not just lives.”

In the business of preserving legacies, we are a consulting company specializing in Legacy Planning, that includes Estate & Succession Planning and Family Business Succession Planning. With a committed team of experts, network of resources and structured processes we offer an entire support system for individuals and business houses in need for preserving and bequeathing the wealth they have spent a lifetime or lifetimes creating.

Terentia is led by the Estate Planning expert, Sandeep Nerlekar, who has more than two decades of experience in Estate Planning and Banking. He is ably supported by a trusted team of experienced professionals from the Legal, Banking & Investment sectors.

Helping family businesses to manage their legacies

Family-owned businesses are the oldest form of business organization in the world. In India, 70% of companies with revenues of over $1 billion are owned by families and perform better on an average than other businesses. Family-owned businesses also have a better track record of staying resilient over the years, even during the most adverse economic conditions. Today, India Inc. is entering a crucial phase, where the baton is being passed to the next generation.

Over the next 15 years, 40% of India’s large family businesses will be handing over the reins to the second generation, and 35% of them to the third or fourth generation.Without doubt, generational change is one of the most critical challenges facing India Inc. However, a bigger challenge is shadowing large family businesses—succession planning. It is estimated that 70% of the family-owned businesses fail or are sold before they are passed on to the second generation, while at least 90% don’t make it to the third generation.

Terentia, which means ‘Guardian’ or ‘Protector’ in Greek, helps family-owned businesses and individuals to plan their estate and protect their family business interests to ensure that they live a risk-free life and their legacy lives on. Three years since their inception, Terentia has worked with close to 167 business families and manages close to billion dollars in assets under management. It directly competes with Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), India Infoline Finance Limited (IIFL) and Kotak Wealth Management in this space. Terentia expects to double its topline this year and is working towards diversifying its services to include more verticals on the fiduciary and custody sides. They also plan to open more offices in Dubai (July 2017), Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Singapore and London.

The estate and succession planning space in India face many challenges such as lack of awareness about wills, trusts and other succession instruments, changing regulations and more importantly procrastination by the leaders. In fact, only about 15% of Indian family businesses have chalked out a robust documented succession plan, according to a recent research report by PwC titled 2016 Global Family Business Survey.