[FRANKFURT] The patriarch of one of the Europe’s biggest fortunes is among the latest wave of rich baby boomers and Gen X residents exiting the United Kingdom amid tax hikes aimed at the country’s wealthiest denizens.
Troels Holch Povlsen, the 75-year-old founder of clothing giant Bestseller, which owns the Jack & Jones brand, recently switched his usual residency to his native Denmark after previously citing it as England, according to registry filings.
Elio Leoni Sceti, 59, the former chief executive officer of EMI Music and co-founder of an early stage investment firm based in London and San Francisco, has returned to his native Italy, a filing this month shows. Ricardo Leiman, 59, founding partner of London-based hedge fund KLI Asset Management, has also relocated to Italy, according to an April filing.
Leiman, a native of Brazil and KLI’s chief investment officer, declined to comment, while Leoni Sceti and a representative for Holch Povlsen didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The Holch Povlsen family has a net worth of about US$7 billion through closely held Bestseller, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The firm is now run by Troels’ son, Anders.
The departures underscore the growing unease among many of Britain’s richest residents over changes to taxation, ranging from private equity investments to inheritances and capital gains. Many of those in the baby boomer cohort – born from 1946 to 1964 – are nearing retirement age and focused on preserving wealth, with the demographic shift dubbed a “silver tsunami.”
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That’s making Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ efforts to bring more assets under the nation’s standard 40 per cent inheritance tax rate – one of the highest among developed countries – a red-hot topic and leading many wealthy individuals to reassess their future in the UK.
“Inheritance tax is the dealbreaker,” said Marc Acheson, a global wealth specialist at Utmost Wealth Solutions in London. “That’s what is driving people away.”
Bart Becht, the 68-year-old former CEO of Reckitt Benckiser Group and a former money manager for the billionaire Reimann dynasty, has also moved to Italy after previously living in the UK, according to a registry filing on Thursday (May 8). Becht didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Italy is increasingly becoming a hot spot for wealthy UK individuals looking to relocate, offering a 15-year tax break on overseas income and assets in exchange for an annual fee that doubled last year to US$226,000. For those concerned about preserving wealth, Italy’s regime also offers exemptions on overseas assets from local inheritance tax levies.
Bill Browder, 61, the co-founder of onetime hedge fund Hermitage Capital Management, has also made plans in the past year to relocate to the Mediterranean nation, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the details are private.
While the former Russia-investor-turned-Kremlin-critic still lists England as his country of residence, he has already curbed some of his UK ties. In August, Browder stepped back as a director of a London-based company that owns and operates his namesake website, according to local registry filings.
Representatives for Browder, who moved to the UK after his 2005 exile from Moscow and just last year was awarded one of the country’s highest civil honours, didn’t respond to several calls and e-mails requesting comment.
Other mega-rich baby boomers recently exiting the UK include Egypt’s richest person, Nassef Sawiris. The 64-year-old has relocated to Abu Dhabi and Italy, where Goldman Sachs Group veteran Richard Gnodde, 65, is also moving. Frederic de Mevius, 66, a member of brewing giant AB InBev SA’s three founding families, has returned to his native Belgium.
Two of Britain’s richest real estate investors – Richard Livingstone, 60, and his brother Ian, who turns 63 this month – have moved to Monaco, which doesn’t tax personal income or capital gains. Fellow UK property investor Nick Leslau, 65, similarly switched his residency to the city-state, according to a March filing. Leslau declined to comment. BLOOMBERG
