Egyptian billionaire Nassev Sossilis has denounced the “year of incompetence” by conservatives for the tax changes he said had driven him to leave the UK.
Saulis, Egypt’s wealthiest and co-owner of Aston Villa, the English Football Club, recently said he recently moved his residency from London to Italy and Abu Dhabi.
He said the decision to move abroad after living in the UK for 15 years was due to the government’s crackdown on non-dominant residents announced by the previous Tory administration.
“You can’t blame the labor,” Sawiris said. “This all created a decade of incompetence by the most left-leaning Conservative party in history.”
The changes announced by conservative Prime Minister Jeremy Hunt and confirmed by workers’ replacement Rachel Reeves last fall, have ended a tax system that allowed British residents who declared permanent homes elsewhere to be paid taxes on foreign income and profits.
Sawiris will join the rush of other wealthy individuals who have left or are considering leaving the UK following the tax changes that came into effect on April 6th.
Reeves is bearing the brunt of criticism of a series of tax rises aimed at dealing with the UK’s disastrous finances and helping to deal with so-called fiscal rules in order to avoid a spiral of interest rates on government debt.
“I feel bad for her,” Saulis said of Reeves. “She behaves like Margaret Thatcher in her financial discipline. Otherwise, the UK would have had a 7% interest rate.”
However, he warned that Reeves should address more wealthy businessmen, as tax contributions could play a key role in funding government services. He added that it is likely to be difficult to convince many retirees to come back.
“The wealthy or wealthy entrepreneurs have options. She should treat them like they are her best clients,” he added. “I don’t know if anyone in my circle hasn’t been moving in April this year, or if next April (child) has a grade or something like that.”
Aston Villa will be competing in the UEFA Champions League this month
Sawiris also confirmed that the changes in inheritance taxes introduced by labour also played a role in his decision to abandon his British residence. Reeves has used its October budget to end its use of the offshore trust to avoid a 40% UK inheritance tax.
This change means that if wealthy people die while staying in the UK, they will “have half of your net worth at risk,” he warned.
“On April 7th, if the bus hits me (after that), my family will go bankrupt because my family will have to pay 40% in taxes, because my assets are not in liquidity.
With net worth fixed by Forbes at $9 billion, Sawris is the youngest son of the late Onsi Sawiris, who founded a construction company in the 1950s and now founded a construction company in a large multinational company known as Olascom Construction.
As the business grew, families became more diverse, entered the cement industry and expanded from Egypt to other emerging markets.
The family of Coptic Christians, Solis, had targeted a travel ban by the Muslim Brotherhood, which gained power in Egypt in 2012 in the aftermath of the Arab uprising, and a travel ban by the Muslim Brotherhood, but later abdicated in a coup.
The UK said, “When the Muslim Brotherhood came to Egypt, they gave me a home. I’m always in debt,” he said. “I own my own home. I’m expanding my investment in Aston Villas, seeing the stadium expand, and not changing my love for this country.”
He said his remarks came from the care of the UK, where three of his four children were born. His wife, Sherin, is a member of the Council of Trustees of the American Schools in London, where his children attended.
(LR) Nassef Sawiris and Wesley Edens, Owner of Aston Villa ©Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC
Eviving UK taxpayers faces a limit on the amount of time they can return to spend 90 days each year and 90 days each year.
Sawiris will use some of the time to visit and attend games at Aston Villa, a Birmingham-based football club. This concluded the Champions League despite attempting a lively comeback in the second leg of the quarterfinals against Qatar-owned Palisen German.
He, co-founder of the Fortress Investment Group, and US billionaire Wes Edens, acquired a 55% stake in the club for £30 million in 2018, rescued him from the financial crisis and returned to the English Football Premier League, where the team is currently in seventh place.
Sawiris and his partners have invested heavily in football clubs to improve their performance. However, the club has not yet made a profit, and previously followed the Premier League financial regulations, which sell young players and limit teams’ losses.
Sawiris complained that the rules are anti-competitive and prevent the Challenger Club from closing the gap with the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool.
“The Premier League has the impression that it’s Manchester United and Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, so they have to deal with these guys. But what makes the Premier League great is Manchester United kicking the butt to Brighton.”
Sawiris plans to increase Aston Villa Stadium’s capacity to 50,000 seats as part of its £100 million investment ©Nick Potts/PA Wire
Aston Villa plans to invest more than £100 million in the team as part of Sawiris’s plan, with the stadium’s capacity increasing from the current level of 42,000 to over 50,000 seats. However, the development is pending with local officials expanding the rail link.
Sawiris last year has built close ties with his rulers, from Luxembourg to Abu Dhabi, making him an unusual outsider who has been granted citizenship. He told the FT last year that Abu Dhabi’s benefits include a stable and effective government and “UK law without UK weather.”
Through NNS, Sawiris manages the holdings of Dutch-listed fertilizer company OCI and sportswear group Adidas, where he belongs to the board of directors, Aston Villa shares and other shares.
Sawiris also joined the board of XRG, a company created by Abu Dhabi’s national oil company ADNOC, investing in global energy assets last year.
Sawiris said his London office, above the Phillips Art Gallery, has been vacant in the past few weeks. He moved more than 40 employees to Abu Dhabi.
“It’s not that difficult for them because they (my employees) need to move to a 45% savings,” he laughs.
