London fights for family office stronghold as Asia rivals circle
Scores of rich individuals have relocated from the UK to wealth hubs such as Milan, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates
[LONDON] London’s reputation as a global wealth hub has taken a hit this year after UK tax changes prompted a string of high-profile departures among its super-rich residents.
One of the highest-profile figures in the English capital’s financial district is seeking to change that narrative.
Alastair King, the City of London’s Lord Mayor, is working to shore up the English capital’s role as a stronghold for family offices overseeing the fortunes of the world’s rich. About 100 representatives from the secretive firms are set to hear his pitch for attracting private capital and boosting growth in London at a Thursday summit hosted at Mansion House, the 18th century Palladian pile that serves as the ceremonial heart of the City.
The meeting “chimes with this idea of what I’m trying to do in relation to bringing a little bit more calculated risk back,” King, 56, said of London’s financial sector in an interview. “And the great thing about family offices is they can take some calculated risk.”
At least a fifth of the world’s 500 richest people now have a family office, helping to preserve fortunes totalling more than US$4 trillion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Those with London firms managing their wealth include steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, UK entrepreneur James Dyson and Greek shipping heiress Maria Angelicoussis, who has parlayed her wealth into stocks and private equity through the firm managing her fortune, Nicrone.
The firms represent a small but influential part of Britain’s private wealth sector and are showing some immunity to the turmoil stemming from the end of a preferential tax regime for wealthy residents hailing from abroad, known as non-domiciled individuals.
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Scores of rich individuals have relocated from the UK to wealth hubs such as Milan, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, but family offices are rarely moving with their owners, partly due to the UK’s deep talent pool of professional services.
Checkout.com founder Guillaume Pousaz relocated this year to Monaco, for example, but still maintained the London branch of his family office, Zinal Growth, according to UK registry filings. Shravin Bharti Mittal, the 38-year-old heir to one of India’s biggest fortunes, has also kept the London outpost of his investment firm, Unbound, after recently relocating to the UAE.
“Some of my friends have gone,“ King said in his high-ceilinged Mansion House office, dressed in a dark-navy suit, salmon braces and purple-and-green tie. “Their family offices have stayed here.”
Family offices are a booming area of finance that remain relatively unknown, even as their access to deep pools of capital make them increasingly involved in markets for buyouts, second-hand private equity and real estate. Some of them are even taking activist positions at listed companies.
But London is also facing rising competition from other wealth hubs such as Hong Kong and Singapore, which have also made efforts to attract more family offices. They’ve boomed in number worldwide in recent years and typically serve a single or small group of clients.
Since taking office in November 2024, King has helped to finalise a pact for UK pension fund managers to invest at least 5% of their assets into local private markets, unlocking US$66 billion of investment for British businesses and infrastructure.
He’s now counting on family offices as another way to unlock growth in the UK’s private markets, in part through their greater financial flexibility compared with many institutional money managers. A survey this year of 346 family office clients at Citigroup found almost three-quarters of them are looking to acquire stakes directly in companies, with startups among the most popular areas.
“People who do alternatives really, really well are family offices,” King said. “That’s their bread and butter.” BLOOMBERG
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