Informa boss shifts residency to UAE
The boss of a FTSE 100 company Informa has shifted his residency to the UAE and stepped back from his role in the House of Lords, to run the data and events firm from what is one of its fastest-growing regions.
Lord Carter, who was the founding chief executive of media watchdog Ofcom, has relocated from the UK as part a wider reshuffle involving much of the company’s top brass.
Patrick Martell, the group’s chief operating officer, has moved to Informa’s New York office and the boss of its Techtarget unit has departed for Boston.
Like many FTSE 100 companies, the majority of Informa’s earnings stem from abroad, which had given rise to speculation the firm, which also boasts an academic publishing arm, may shift its listing to New York. Just 5 per cent of its revenue is generated by its domestic business, while over 40 per cent are generated in the US and 36 per cent in the Middle East and Asia.
The mass relocation plan was signed off by the firm’s board last year, after Informa bosses had begun spending increasingly less time in the UK, a source told CityAM. Carter will be based out of the company’s main hub in the Gulf, which has is understood to be growing at 20 per cent.
Carter, who also served as chief of strategy under former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has led Informa since 2013, making him one of the longest serving bosses on London’s blue-chip index. He was appointed to the House of Lords by the Labour leader in 2008 to take up a ministerial role in his government, but stepped back from the second chamber in March 2025.
Informa boss joins ranks of wealthy Brits in UAE
The former peer’s departure from the UK is understood to be down to the board’s desire for the firm to capitalise on its rapid growth in the Middle East region. But in moving to the UAE, Carter will also join the growing ranks of former UK-based executives trading in their British residency for one in the low-tax Gulf nation.
A Bloomberg analysis of over 5m Companies House entries showed a dramatic acceleration of business directors departing the UK, with the UAE found to be bosses’ destination of choice. Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and Aston Villa co-owner Nassef Sawiris were among 300 executives to completed moves to the Emirate state, in the wake of the government’s non-dom crackdown and several measures.
Carter’s departure was first reported by the Financial Times.
A spokesman for Informa said: “Informa has grown fourfold over the last decade, becoming an increasingly international business. The operating management are spending their time where the market is and where the growth is.”