Mobile Money

“People now want to be more mobile with their money,” Boris Collardi, the chief executive officer of Julius Baer Group Ltd., the country’s third-largest wealth manager, said in a telephone interview on July 25. “They want to be more free, they don’t mind paying taxes.”

Gopichand Hinduja, who has lived in London for more than 30 years, said he’s not worried about the long-term effect of Brexit on property values in prime areas of the city. The weak pound and cautious consumer sentiment has made it the right time to buy and the group will be looking to acquire distressed assets, he said.

London Property

The family’s London real estate assets are valued at more than $1.2 billion, according to the billionaires index. They include two residences on Carlton House Terrace totaling 100,000 square feet (9,290 square meters) that once served as the offices of the Crown Estate, the property company that generates income for Queen Elizabeth II.

In March, Hinduja Group bought the Old War Office, the former administrative headquarters of the British army, for 350 million pounds ($459.2 million) with plans to turn it into a luxury hotel. The firm has chosen an operator for the hotel, Hinduja said in the interview, declining to comment further.

“People from the Middle East, the Gulf and other places will start coming in to invest because of weak sterling,” the billionaire said. “No one invests in real estate for the short term.”

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