Why I’m leaving London, billionaire version | USAEMALL.com

One thing to start: The US Federal Trade Commission has sued ride-hailing app Uber, saying it made “false or misleading” claims about its subscription service, in the latest sign that Donald Trump’s administration is embracing an aggressive stance against Big Tech groups.

And another thing: Nomura has agreed to buy Macquarie’s US and European public asset management business as part of its strategy to take advantage of a generational shift in Japanese investment habits.

In today’s newsletter:

• Nassef Sawiris calls it quits

• China retreats from US private equity

• The Wall Street heavyweights backing Trump’s inauguration

The latest billionaire to ditch the UK

London has been filled in recent months with whispers about wealthy individuals readying to leave the UK after a recent tax crackdown.

Now one billionaire is going public with his views.

Nassef Sawiris, Egypt’s richest man with a net worth pegged at $9bn, told the FT he has moved his residency from London to Italy and Abu Dhabi after 15 years of living in the UK.

He blames not the current Labour government, but the previous Tory administration for the changes which ended a tax regime that had allowed UK residents who declared their permanent home was elsewhere to avoid paying tax on foreign income and gains.

“You can’t blame Labour,” Sawiris told DD’s Arash Massoudi and Ivan Levingston, in an interview at his long-standing office overlooking Mayfair’s Berkeley Square that he has since vacated.

“This was all in the making for 10 years of incompetence by the most left-leaning Conservative party in history,” he added.

Sawiris has strong connections in the UK, including his co-ownership of the football club Aston Villa. He said his remarks came out of care for the country, where several of his children were born.

He plans to grow his investment in Aston Villa including expanding the team’s stadium.

Yet he joins a rush of other wealthy individuals who have left or are considering leaving the UK — such as steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal — following the tax changes, which came into effect on April 6.

While Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves has taken the brunt of criticism over the series of tax rises meant to address the UK’s dire public finances, Sawiris said: “I feel bad for her.”

However, in the interview he cautioned that Reeves should be more accommodating to wealthy businesspeople, given their tax contributions could play a key role in funding government services.

“High net worth or wealthy entrepreneurs have options. She should treat them like they are her best clients,” he added. “I don’t know any person in my circle who is not moving this April, or next April if [their children] have a school year or something like that.”

When Sawiris speaks, it’s worth listening. DD recommends reading his full remarks.

And get in touch if you have moved or are thinking about it — and what if anything the UK should do.

China’s private equity pullback

Another week, another gut punch for America’s private capital giants.

On Monday, the FT reported Chinese state-backed funds are halting their investments in US private equity, severing a key cash pipeline for some of the world’s largest financial services companies.

Over the past three decades, US PE groups including Blackstone, TPG and Carlyle Group have welcomed a deluge of money that’s propelled them from a niche corner of financial services to a dominant industry managing $4.7tn.

China’s sovereign wealth funds have been among the industry’s largest benefactors, ploughing hundreds of billions of dollars into US groups over the years.

More recently, Chinese state funds have used PE to gain exposure to western companies.

But Donald Trump’s tariff barrage has changed the calculus in Beijing, and the Chinese government has pressed its money men to stop pouring cash into US PE funds.

China Investment Corporation and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, two of the world’s biggest investors in alternative assets, are among the state-backed funds beating a retreat.

In 2023, CIC and Safe each held about a quarter of their collective $2.35tn of assets invested in alternatives, according to data provider Global SWF.

The news on China comes eight days after the FT reported that pension funds in Canada and Denmark were pulling back from US private markets, in response to Trump’s trade blitz.

Blackstone president Jonathan Gray acknowledged the pressures on an earnings call last week. “There definitely are questions from global investors and clients about what’s happening here,” he said.

For Gray and peers across the PE world, the clock is ticking. The longer what Gray gently characterised as Trump’s “tariff diplomacy” lasts, the worse it gets for Wall Street and the economy.

The big money behind Trump’s inauguration

To scroll through the list of billionaires, corporate giants and Wall Street titans who collectively gave cash to Trump’s inauguration is to understand the fear and greed running through US business as the president returned to the White House. 

Among the $240mn in contributions to the ceremony at the US Capitol in January are industries currying favour with the president and those seeking to mend ties. 

It’s also a litmus of the extraordinary wealth coursing through the US, which just 100 days into Trump’s term now sits on a knife’s edge. 

The FT reports that a who’s who of corporate giants, from Apple chief Tim Cook to Amazon and Nvidia wrote $1mn cheques to Trump’s inauguration. 

While many tech CEOs were on hand at the festivities, including Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg, Google boss Sundar Pichai and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, each of whom faced antitrust scrutiny from the Biden administration, Wall Street played a more subtle role. 

Some of the mightiest private capital and banking giants wrote large cheques to Trump, among them Blackstone, KKR, Paul Singer of Elliott Management, Citadel’s founder Ken Griffin and Igor Tulchinsky of WorldQuant. 

The FT noted last week in a Big Read that some US private equity groups had made contributions to get in the president’s good graces. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and BlackRock were also large contributors. 

Others made their mark: Broadcom gave $1mn. During Trump’s first term, its chief, Hock Tan, attempted to work with the White House, only to see the administration stymie a $142bn takeover of Qualcomm.

Capital One gave a similar amount — its highly scrutinised $35bn takeover of credit card lender Discover Financial was approved just days ago. 

Companies that could get regulatory relief from Trump, such as those run by crypto bros, gave in full force. Solana, Coinbase and Galaxy Digital all donated. 

Venture Global, the big, controversial exporter of LNG, gave $1mn. Freedom Holding, a brokerage with Kazakh ties that was scrutinised by retired short seller Hindenburg Research, also wrote a $1mn cheque.

Job moves

• Peter Hargreaves, co-founder of Hargreaves Lansdown, is rejoining the investment platform’s group board, a decade after he stepped down as a director. The company was bought last year for £5.4bn by a group of PE firms led by CVC Capital Partners.

• The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has named Anna Nordstrom as head of its markets group. Nordstrom has served as interim head since December, and now takes on the role on a permanent basis.

• Lazard has hired former Republican congressman Patrick McHenry as a senior adviser. McHenry, who served in Congress for 20 years, will advise on public policy, fintech and AI.

• O’Melveny has hired Reema Shah, former deputy general counsel for the US Department of Commerce, as partner in its securities litigation and financial services group, and its artificial intelligence industry group.

Smart reads

Contingency planning A small village in Switzerland has seen a surge in property demand from US buyers, reports the FT. Wealthy Americans are seeking Swiss real estate investments, as they search for shelter from tariff uncertainty back home.

High stakes A little-known law firm is spearheading a £36bn class action lawsuit against BHP — thought to be the biggest case in British legal history. The FT dug into the company, its founder and its £200mn bonus pool.

Chequing out The Trump administration is attempting to wean the US off cheques, but old habits die hard, writes the FT.

News round-up

Swiss private bank EFG courts wealthy Asian clients in London (FT)

European telecom groups line up deals in hope of looser merger rules (FT)

Mike Lynch’s Bayesian superyacht to be salvaged for investigation (FT)

Saudi Arabia ‘gigaproject’ stonewalls settlement offer from ex-CEO in $120mn lawsuit (FT)

US thrift stores bank on windfall from Donald Trump’s tariffs (FT)