'Britain has gone to hell': Norwegian shipping tycoon who is one of Britain's richest men says he's moving his businesses out of London after Labour's non-dom tax raid
The Norwegian-born shipping tycoon said 'Britain had gone to hell' after it emerged he had closed the Sloane Square headquarters of one of his private businesses -Seatankers Management.
It is the latest worrying sign of the huge exodus of wealth from the capital and comes after the UK suffered its biggest ever fall in billionaires on record.
The Labour Government abolished the non-dom tax status in April, which is where UK residents whose permanent home or domicile for tax purposes is outside the country.
Mr Fredriksen, 81, who has an estimated wealth of around £13.7 billion, has been critical of Britain's poor economic prospects.
He is now said to be spending most of his time running his business empire from the United Arab Emirates.
Mr Fredriksen told Norwegian title E24 at a shipping event in Oslo earlier this month: 'It's starting to remind me more and more of Norway.
'Britain has gone to hell, like Norway.'
He added: 'The entire Western world is on its way down.'
'People should get up and work even more, and go to the office instead of having a home office.'
The oil tanker magnate, who owns one of London's most prestigious private homes in Chelsea, left Norway in 1978.
He first got into oil trading in the 1960s in Beirut, before buying his first tankers in the 1970s.
Mr Fredriksen made his fortune during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, and in 2001 bought up the Grade II listed riverside Chelsea mansion for £37million.
Then in 2004, he reportedly turned down former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's £100million offer for the house.
It is now estimated to be worth a whopping £250million.
Last month, it was revealed that the UK has suffered the biggest fall in billionaires on record.
The number dropped to 156 this year from 165 in 2024, representing the sharpest decline in the Sunday Times Rich List's 37-year-history.
It came after the Autumn Budget last year included several controversial tax changes.
Since April, employers have had to start paying higher National Insurance contributions for their staff.
Rachel Reeves, backed by Sir Keir Starmer, also made changes to capital gains tax and inheritance tax.
'Our billionaire count is down and the combined wealth of those who feature in our research is falling,' Robert Watts, compiler of the Rich List, said when it was published last month.
'We are also finding fewer of the world's super rich are coming to live in the UK.'
He said he was also 'struck by the strength of criticism for Rachel Reeves's Treasury' when speaking to wealthy individuals for the publication.
Mr Watts said: 'We expected the abolition of non-dom status would anger affluent people from overseas.
'But homegrown young tech entrepreneurs and those running centuries-old family firms are also warning of serious consequences to a range of tax changes unveiled in last October's budget.'
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