London’s Family Offices Drew Mideast Money as Non-Doms Fled - Bloomberg #UAE #SaudiArabia

London’s Family Offices Drew Mideast Money as Non-Doms Fled - Bloomberg

London’s unsettled family office economy has drawn rising investment from wealthy Middle Eastern families in the past 18 months, providing a boost as other rich investors pull back.

Firms managing multi-billion-dollar fortunes from the United Arab Emirates to Saudi Arabia have hired executives, opened new premises and boosted UK holdings since early 2025, according to an analysis of registry filings and online posts by Bloomberg.

The cohort includes the Al Rostamani family, whose Dubai-based conglomerate has more than $2 billion in annual revenues and 4,000 employees, as well as the influential Bin Mahfouz and Alsubeaei merchant dynasties. In January, a family office for part of the Bin Mahfouz dynasty, who rose to prominence as bankers to Saudi royals, switched to London’s prestigious St. James’s area from the UK capital’s outskirts, according to filings.

“Middle Eastern families are increasingly operating multi-hub family office models, where London plays a central role,” said Martin Roll, a global family business strategist and senior adviser at McKinsey & Co. The UK capital “offers a level of international diversification — legally, financially, and culturally — that few other cities can match.”

Representatives for the Al Rostamani, Bin Mahfouz and Alsubeaei dynasties — whose family-owned conglomerates oversee some of the Middle East’s largest industrial, healthcare and retail businesses — didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The filings date from before the current conflict in the Middle East and it’s unclear what wealth changes they or other families in the region might be making. Still, the moves offer the latest signs of how a wave of major family offices are increasingly operating in more than one territory as private investment firms for the ultra-wealthy increase in size and sophistication.

At the same time, billionaires such as John Fredriksen, Nassef Sawiris and Guillaume Pousaz have recently curbed their ties to the UK as Keir Starmer’s Labour government hiked taxes last year for many well-heeled residents. The family offices for some departing individuals have scaled back UK operations, moved staff abroad and opened new branches in other territories, disrupting Britain’s traditionally booming sector for attracting private investment firms for the world’s ultra-wealthy.

Tax and geopolitics are among the most cited-reasons for family offices moving from one territory to another, according to a survey published last year of 585 family office professionals from KPMG and Agreus Group, with almost half of their employers now operating in more than one location.

The Middle East elite — whose territories have been a magnet for attracting family offices in recent years — are typically less affected by the UK’s tax reforms as they often aren’t fully resident, instead opting to spend chunks of the summer months in Europe because of scorching temperatures back home.

“Middle Eastern families take a long-term, stewardship-driven view - despite the UK’s evolving tax and regulatory landscape,” Roll added. “They are less reactive to short-term policy shifts and more focused on stability, rule of law, and the ability to deploy capital across generations.”

Family offices more generally have boomed over the past two decades amid surging riches in areas such as tech and finance. Alongside New York and Singapore, the UK has traditionally ranked as a leading destination. At least 20 individuals tracked by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index of the world’s 500 biggest fortunes had UK family office entities at the start of this year, helping oversee riches totaling more than $450 billion.

The Al Rostamani, Alsubeaei and Bin Mahfouz dynasties set up firms as recently as late 2024 to oversee their wealth, joining Qatar’s former emir and Saudi Arabia’s Juffali clan in tapping the UK’s deep pool of finance professionals, according to Bloomberg’s analysis.

The Al Rostamanis hired Aron Balas to lead investments for their family office, Athenaeum Partners UK, after the 42 year-old had helped run part of the Rothschild banking dynasty’s fortune, according to LinkedIn data. An Athenaeum entity acquired UK automotive dealership Johnsons Cars Limited in September, building on the Al Rostamani family’s existing operations as distributors for Nissan and Renault vehicles in the UAE.

Meantime, Sane Capital, a family office for part of the Bin Mahfouz dynasty, recruited Matthew Ridley as chief investment officer last year. The 53 year-old also held a similar role as a money manager for the Rothschilds, registry filings show.

The Alsubeaeis recently included a London address on the website of their family office, Lote Global, adding to a premises in England’s East Midlands region. The Saudi dynasty, who trace their origins back to a trading house founded almost a century ago, already hold UK real estate investments spanning luxury apartments in Manchester and Newcastle.

Lote also recruited a London-based chief of staff last year as well as Andre Keijsers, a veteran of the UK capital’s finance sector who became Lote’s deputy CEO in late 2025, LinkedIn data shows.