(Bloomberg) -- Amanda Staveley, the financier and former director of Premier League club Newcastle United, has liquidated one of her businesses ahead of an expected hike in capital gains tax by the UK’s Labour government.
The decision to appoint a liquidator to Redstart Leisure Ltd., a corporate advisory business, was a direct consequence of the threat of higher taxes, according to a person familiar with the situation. The appointment was revealed in a filing at UK registry Companies House. It’s unclear how much money Staveley could save.
In July, Staveley sold her about 6% stake in Newcastle United, which valued the club at $1 billion. Her original investment into the football team was in 2021, when she took a 10% stake at a valuation of £305 million ($398 million).
Labour is widely expected to raise capital gains tax, although Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Bloomberg Monday that speculation it would go as high as 39% was “wide of the mark.” Some Labour-leaning think tanks and the Liberal Democrats have called for far higher taxes on capital.
The speculation comes ahead of the UK budget on Oct. 30, at which Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is expected to try to boost revenues to fill a £22 billion fiscal hole that she blames on the previous Conservative administration.
Labour has not ruled out an increase to capital gains tax or other levies on the wealthy, prompting some high net wealth people to leave the UK.
However, Staveley said she does not plan to move her assets offshore. “I will be retaining my existing UK tax residence after it has been completed,” she said in an emailed statement. “I also wish the government success with its growth agenda.”
The government is holding an investment summit in London on Monday, which it says is crucial to its pledge to grow GDP at a faster rate than rival Group of Seven nations.
“If she is liquidating and paying capital gains tax now, and that means she is avoiding more capital gains tax in the future, well that’s how the system works,” said John Whiting, former tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and former director of the government’s Office for Tax Simplification.
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