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Tony Ressler, one of the most experienced private equity businessmen in the US, said the English capital’s potential to become a “global financial capital” had been undermined since the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016.
His remarks emerged as Ares, the listed private equity group he co-founded in the late 1990s, has slowed down its dealmaking across both private equity and real estate assets in the UK partly in light of Brexit.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Ressler, who also co-founded private equity giant Apollo Global Management alongside his brother-in-law and fellow billionaire Leon Black in 1990, said: “London was on the edge of being the global financial capital of the world and I think that has modestly changed.
“If you said ‘pick a city’ I would pick Amsterdam among of all the European cities to be the one (replacing London),” he added. “People want to live there, it is well located, it has a business friendly environment.”
Los Angeles-based Ares, which recently raised Europe’s largest ever direct lending fund at €10bn, has not only seen a drop in dealmaking activity in the UK but it has also expanded its presence in cities outside the British capital, including Amsterdam and Luxembourg.
Data seen by the Financial Times showed a shift from a peak 65-35 split between the UK and Europe in terms of transactions volume to roughly a 50-50 split partly driven by Brexit.
Ares said that a factor driving this change was the “acceptance of direct fund-based lenders such as Ares in the region” but added that “activity between now and the end of the Brexit period negotiations . . . may lead to a slowdown in investment activity as UK sponsors potentially adopt a ‘wait and see’ mode”. [...]
Full article on Financial Times (subscription required)