UK Billionaire Declares ‘Britain Has Gone to Hell’, Lists £250M Chelsea Manor and Fires Staff

UK Billionaire Declares ‘Britain Has Gone to Hell’: The UK’s 9th richest billionaire has sold out, putting his £250m London mansion up for sale after saying ‘Britain has gone to hell’.

John Fredriksen moved his business out of London last month after it was revealed he had closed the Sloane Square headquarters of one of his private companies - Seatankers Management.

Norwegian born shipping tycoon John Fredriksen is selling his 300 year old Georgian manor in London.

Fredriksen, 81, has an estimated wealth of around £13.7bn ($30.9b) and has been critical of Britain’s economic prospects.

Mr Fredriksen is packing up his multi million pound home which has up to 10 bedrooms across 30,000 sq ft, The Times has reported.

Locals say more than a dozen domestic staff have been let go and discreet viewings of the grand mansion are to be arranged.

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Experts believe the property won’t be listed on popular property websites but will be sold in an ‘off market’ private deal by specialist agents.

The Cypriot citizen owns the world’s largest oil tanker fleet and has interests in offshore drilling, fish farming and gas.

He’s owned the London property at 56 Old Church St since 2001 and it’s one of the city’s most valuable private residences.

It has the third largest private garden in London after Buckingham Palace and Witanhurst in Highgate, The Independent reported in 1994.

The property was sold to Fredriksen 24 years ago for about £37m and millions more went on further renovations.

The Independent reported it was once an ordinary rectory but in 2000 the house was extended into an ambassadorial home.

“The house has two vast entertaining rooms, 10 bedroom suites, an indoor swimming pool lined with black marble and a safe the size of the average living room.”

Although it is located just off Chelsea’s King’s Rd it has “an amazing two acres of gardens, including a tennis court and summer house”, the newspaper reported after the sale.

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In 2004 Roman Abramovich, the former Chelsea FC owner and property mogul, made an unsolicited offer of £100m for the Old Rectory but it was turned down.

Locals say the billionaire has already let go of more than a dozen domestic staff and viewings have been arranged, The Times reported.

There won’t be a “For Sale” sign on the property’s black gates and high brick walls, these grand properties are usually sold in confidential “off market” deals.This comes as Britain’s super rich are facing the end of their “non-dom status” and their global assets being subject to UK inheritance tax.

For centuries the non-dom regime allowed wealthy people, who were domiciled overseas for tax purposes, to pay UK tax only on income earned there, until it was scrapped by the UK’s Labour government in April, according to The Times.

It was Norway’s high taxes that reportedly inspired Fredriksen to leave Norway and later renounce his Norwegian citizenship.

At an event in Oslo last month he was asked about the UK.

“It’s starting to remind me more and more of Norway,” the billionaire told the business newspaper, E24.

“Britain has gone to hell, like Norway… I try to avoid Norway as much as I can.”

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