01Lomé, a discreet and strategic hub
Togo has carved out a role as a platform: the port of Lomé serves the entire Sahelian hinterland, the free-trade zone attracts light industry, and the city hosts the headquarters of leading pan-African banking groups. Around this infrastructure flourish fortunes built on shipping and logistics, trading — cotton, clinker, petroleum products —, banking and real estate. Wealth that is often long established, held by discreet families with deep connections across the sub-region.
02The issues we encounter
Togolese cases have a character of their own: wealth that is multi-country by construction — assets in Togo, holdings across the sub-region, long-standing accounts and properties in France — calling for overall consolidation; a sought-after discretion, which European structuring must serve rather than compromise; a second generation educated between Lomé, Paris and London, who must be brought into the succession; and the shift of historic Paris real estate, often held directly, towards structured, transferable forms of ownership.
03A practical example
Koffi, 58, runs a family group in Lomé spanning freight forwarding, cargo handling and trading, founded by his father. Two apartments in Paris bought in the 1990s and held directly, a daughter working as a banker in London, a son in the group. The arrangement: audit and restructuring of the Paris real estate into a French société civile (family property company), a donation-partage (French inter vivos distribution of assets) of the bare ownership calibrated between the two children, and Luxembourg life insurance for the family reserve and the balance of the London branch. Two generations of wealth put in order for the third.
04How we work with Togo
Remotely and during your stays in Paris, in the strictest confidentiality — a requirement to which this clientele is particularly attached, and one our model as a firm on a human scale serves naturally. Coordination with your advisers in Lomé and your local banks; the Togolese and regional portion of your wealth remains their territory. Relationships begin by invitation or referral.
05Frequently asked questions
Our Paris properties date from the 1990s and have never been structured. Can this still be remedied?
Absolutely — and it is a classic case among established Togolese families. The initial audit measures what the current form of ownership is costing you (taxation, exposed succession); restructuring through a société civile with progressive transfer resolves most of it. The earlier it is done, the less it costs.
Can you consolidate wealth spread across several countries of the sub-region?
We consolidate the overall picture — a comprehensive statement of your wealth, kept up to date — and act on the French and European portion. For Togolese and regional assets, we coordinate with your local advisers, each within their own remit.
Discretion is essential for our family. How do you guarantee it?
Through the very structure of our firm: a single point of contact, no disclosure, the professional secrecy of the financial investment adviser, and structures that favour sober, fully legal frameworks. Lasting discretion is discretion with nothing to hide — everything is declared, nothing is put on display.
ASTERALE is a French firm, registered with ORIAS (no. 23 007 423) and subject to the French authorities (AMF, ACPR). Our advisory work covers the structuring, investment and transfer of the French and European portion of your wealth, in coordination with your local advisers for the remainder. Relationships begin by invitation or referral, in compliance with applicable French and local regulations.
A first conversation — confidential, without obligation, in French or English, by video call or in Paris.
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