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A top dealmaker at one of London’s biggest private equity firms has quit the UK, the latest in a series of wealthy residents to depart in the wake of sweeping tax changes.
Kurt Björklund, executive chairman of Permira and until recently its managing partner, shifted his residency to Switzerland, according to people familiar with the matter. One said he had left in the past year.
He is the latest addition to a growing list of wealthy financiers to have left the UK after an overhaul by the Labour government of the taxation of rich individuals and private equity profits.
The chair of €85bn-in-assets Permira joins other wealthy entrepreneurs who have quit the UK, including steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal and Egyptian industrialist Nassef Sawiris.
James Brocklebank, managing partner of US buyout firm Advent, has left the UK for Luxembourg, the FT reported in November, and Jeremy Coller, who in recent days inked a deal worth up to $3.7bn to sell his London firm Coller Capital, relocated to Switzerland in 2024.
Others leaving for Luxembourg include Bertrand Coste, head of the family office for the Schlumberger oil dynasty.
In 2024 Labour announced a tax crackdown, including the abolition of the “non-dom” regime that had allowed British residents who declared their permanent home as being overseas to avoid paying UK tax on foreign income and gains.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves also announced that the tax on the share of private equity profits known as carried interest would increase by 6 per cent from April this year relative to 2024 levels and that the government would charge VAT on private school fees.
Switzerland is known for its low-tax regime and over the past decade Italy has become a destination for the world’s super-rich, lured by tax incentives that have allowed them to pay a flat sum on all of their overseas income.
CVC co-founder Rolly van Rappard is relocating to Italy, according to a person familiar with the matter, after much speculation on his plans. His shares in the buyout firm were worth €1bn after it listed in 2024, according to filings.
Permira is known for its investments in footwear brands Dr Martens and Golden Goose, clothing retailer Reformation and wealth manager Evelyn Partners.
Björklund and Permira declined to comment.