Gulf Merchant Dynasties Are Filling the Gap in London’s $450 Billion Family Office Economy

The Al Rostamani, Bin Mahfouz, and Alsubeaei dynasties — among the Gulf’s largest merchant families — have each set up London family office entities since late 2024, as reported by Bloomberg. Sane Capital, the Bin Mahfouz vehicle, relocated to St. James’s in January. The Al Rostamanis hired a former Rothschild executive to lead investments. The Alsubeaeis added a London headquarters and recruited a deputy CEO from the City.

This is not diversification tourism. These are multi-hub operating structures with dedicated senior hires — a format that signals permanent capital deployment, not seasonal presence.

The timing matters. Billionaires Fredriksen, Sawiris, and Pousaz have scaled back UK operations after Labour’s non-dom tax reforms. A KPMG-Agreus survey found nearly half of family offices now operate across multiple jurisdictions. Gulf families, less exposed to UK residency-based taxation, are filling the gap left by departing European principals. At least 20 individuals on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index maintained UK family office entities at the start of 2026, overseeing more than $ 450 billion.

London’s family office economy is not shrinking. It is re-sorting by domicile structure.

Gulf families treat UK rule of law and capital markets depth as generational infrastructure, not a tax position.

The principals arriving do not need the same incentives as those leaving.

Which jurisdiction captures the offices that need a tax wrapper — and which captures the ones that don’t?