Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris, the co-owner of Aston Villa, is among more than a dozen people with multibillion-pound fortunes who have left Britain or loosened their ties to it since Labour returned to power about two years ago. An analysis based on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index puts the wealth that has gone at £120 billion ($160 billion), a figure equal to more than half of the wealth on the index.
Sawiris appears alongside steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, whose net worth exceeds £30 billion, and telecoms investor Shravin Bharti Mittal among the named departures. The UAE is the preferred destination for many of those leaving, ahead of Monaco, Switzerland and Italy. Sawiris’s links with both Italy and the UAE are already well documented. Egypt Independent reported in April 2025 that he had changed his residency to Italy, and in December 2023 his family investment vehicle, NNS Group, said it was considering a move to Abu Dhabi Global Market from its bases in Cyprus, London, Luxembourg and New York.
The list of leavers has kept growing. Chris Rokos, founder of hedge fund Rokos Capital Management, has relocated abroad after paying £330 million in tax in 2025, which made him Britain’s third-biggest taxpayer last year and placed him near the top of the Sunday Times Tax List. The £120 billion estimate does not include property investor David Reuben, who was reported at the weekend to have moved to Monaco with a fortune of £9.9 billion. His brother Simon has been based there for about 40 years.
The government has scrapped non-dom tax status and changed rules on capital gains tax, property taxes and National Insurance, with further measures expected in a budget due at the end of the month. David Lesperance, a lawyer and former non-dom, said that losing billionaires does more damage to the tax take than losing millionaires. He argued that Britain has no workable pipeline to attract the next generation of very wealthy residents.
Lesperance also asked whether the Chancellor will bring in an exit tax before the Autumn Statement, which is weeks away. Sawiris’s holdings stretch well beyond football. Ahram Online has reported stakes in Adidas and LafargeHolcim alongside his role in the purchase of Aston Villa, and Egypt Independent reported in March 2026 that he had been nominated as chairman of the Adidas supervisory board. He is the only investor from the Arab world named among the departures in the analysis.
