Boris Johnson’s brother in Hong Kong backs Brexit strategy as he plans UK hotel fund targeting Asian investors
- Max Johnson, 34, says the fund to be launched in partnership with a hotel operator, will target high net worth individuals and pension funds
- The multilingual banker-turned-entrepreneur says investors should make use of the sterling’s weakness to snap up assets in the UK
Boris Johnson’s “do-or-die” strategy to take Britain out of the European Union could work, said his youngest half-brother Max, who plans to launch a £1 billion (US$1.2 billion) real estate fund targeting Asian investors.
“I am confident that the prime minister can get [it] done, because he has true determination and conviction to deliver Brexit on or before October 31,” the Hong Kong-based banker-turned-entrepreneur said in an interview. “If he can’t do it, I don’t know who can.”
“I would expect the EU not to play ball at the moment [as] a negotiating tactic. I think the EU will blink first … it is just as damaging to the EU as it is to the UK to have a no-deal Brexit.”
Johnson, 34, is in advanced talks to co-found a hotel investment fund targeting Asian high net worth individuals and pension funds. He expects the sterling, which has weakened 6.2 per cent against the US dollar in the past six months, to be a big draw for foreign investors. It has fallen 11.7 per cent since the referendum in June 2016.
While Johnson declined to name the partner, he said the company owns and operates hotels in London that are popular with Chinese tourists. Three of these properties will be sold to the fund, tentatively set for launch three months after the UK’s departure from the EU or a general election, whichever comes first.