The UK’s ninth richest billionaire, Norwegian-born transport tycoon John Fredriksen, has mentioned “Britain has gone to hell” and has moved his enterprise out of London within the newest worrying signal of the massive exodus of wealth from the capital.
The 81-year-old, who owns considered one of London’s most prestigious personal houses, The Outdated Rectory in Chelsea, is now mentioned to spend most of his time operating his empire from the United Arab Emirates.
The oil tanker magnate, whose wealth was estimated at round £13.7 billon on this yr’s Sunday Occasions Wealthy Listing, is the most recent in a sequence of rich foreign-born London residents who’re quitting the UK – or at the least loosening their hyperlinks – due to Labour’s scrapping of the non-dom tax regime and their disillusion with Britain’s poor financial prospects.
He made his outspoken criticism on the Nor-Transport occasion in Oslo earlier this month.
Requested by Norwegian title E24 about his emotions for the UK, Fredriksen mentioned: “It’s beginning to remind me an increasing number of of Norway. Britain has gone to hell, like Norway.”
The billionaire, who turned a Cypriot citizen almost 20 years in the past, added: “I attempt to keep away from Norway as a lot as I can.”
The feedback got here after it emerged he has closed the London headquarters of Seatankers Administration, considered one of his personal transport companies, which was primarily based on Sloane Sq..
Fredriksen, the son of an Oslo welder, left Norway in 1978 and purchased his Grade II listed riverside Chelsea mansion for £37 million in 2001 from rival Theodore Angelopoulos of Greek tanker group Metrostar/Metrofin.
The property is now estimated to be value as a lot as £250 million, making it considered one of Britain’s most useful personal residences. In 2004 former Chelsea proprietor Roman Abramovich reportedly provided £100 million for the house however was turned down.
The house consists of ten bed room suites and an unlimited ballroom, in addition to a swimming pool and a tennis court docket.
The Outdated Rectory was as soon as dwelling to the rector of Chelsea parish church, and dates to 1725. Its secluded two acres of gardens are among the many largest of any personal dwelling in London.
Former rectors embody when George Valerian Wellesley, brother of the Duke of Wellington and Charles Kingsley Sr, father of Charles Kingsley, creator of the Water Infants. It’s not considered at present available on the market.
Wellington is claimed to have deliberate the Battle of Waterloo on its lawns.
Within the interview Fredriksen, broadly referred to as JF within the transport trade, added: “The complete Western world is on its means down.”
“Individuals ought to rise up and work much more, and go to the workplace as an alternative of getting a house workplace.”
