Jim Ratcliffe, an advocate of the UK leaving the EU, is to become the UK’s richest expat.
According to The Daily Telegraph, which first broke the story, Ratcliffe already owns a home in the Mediterranean tax refuge.
Two other senior executives at Ineos, the petrochemical firm he founded, Andy Currie and John Reece, will also join him the principality. Ineos will remain headquartered in London.
Ineos is the largest private company in the UK, having been built up by the trio since their school days together.
The story of all three self-proclaimed “unassuming northern grammar school boys” is told in a forthcoming book The Alchemist – which the company is promoting.
In May Ratcliffe topped The Sunday Times Rich List, after Ineos increased in value.
He owns two-thirds of Ineos and is estimated to be worth £21bn ($27bn €23bn). The billionaire also owns high-end bike jacket maker Belstaff and a Swiss football club.
Although Ineos has not commented on Ratcliffe’s move, the entrepreneur is not averse to avoiding tax.
In April 2010, Ratcliffe moved Ineos’s head office from Hampshire to Switzerland, reducing the amount of tax the company paid by £100m each year, before returning to London offices in 2015.
