Ultra-rich spend £1.7 billion buying UK assets such as Everton FC
In the year to May 9, the value of deals undertaken by high net worth individuals and their investment houses increased more than threefold from £450 million the year before, with the number of transactions up from 30 to 34, according to research by Pinsent Masons, the law firm.
Key deals included Friedkin Group, the family office of Dan Friedkin, netting a majority stake in Everton Football Club in December, and the October acquisition of Wrexham Lager Beer, the UK brewer, by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, the American celebrity co-owners of Wrexham football club.
The League Two football club Bristol Rovers received Gulf investment when Hussain AlSaeed, a Kuwaiti businessman, acquired a majority stake in August 2023.
Sunjay Malhotra, a partner at Pinsent Masons, said the transactions were driven by ultra-wealthy individuals and family offices seeking to avoid the high fees charged for participating in a private equity fund by buying the private assets themselves.
Malhotra added: 'Many of these high net worths are entrepreneurs, so they want to participate in the management decisions of the investee companies, which they would not get if they invested through a fund.
'Whilst some of these deals are targeting trophy assets like football clubs or other sports brands, the majority [of] deals are very pragmatic, driven by a desire to diversify investment and increase exposure to private assets. Some vendors can also prefer private individuals as bidders, as they can offer a quicker due-diligence process than an institution or corporate bidder.'
Private equity funds have outperformed public equities by between 6 per cent and 8 per cent a year since the 1990s, but many investors have been reluctant to participate in the boom owing to the large fees charged by firms.
Wealth Club, the largest non-advisory investment service in the UK, has also launched a fund supermarket pitched at high net-worth investors to offer semi-liquid private equity funds from managers including Apollo, Brookfield, Hg and EQT. The fund has been designed to help investors who are put off by the illiquid nature of private equity funds.
Malhotra said the investment in UK companies by wealthy individuals was a 'very encouraging sign', adding: 'It suggests that the UK continues to be innovative, producing companies of value that appeal to an international audience.'
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