Late Group Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, who died alongside his wife and son in a 2024 helicopter crash, has been listed among the top 10 foreign landlords of luxury properties in London, United Kingdom, with more than 100 assets to his name.
The properties are strategically located in highbrow areas, including Oxford Street, Canary Wharf, Greenwich Peninsula, and other prime parts of the UK.
A report by The Londoner, a UK-based newspaper, revealed that foreigners such as Nigeria’s Wigwe, Thai billionaire Rit Thirakomen with 120 properties, and Simon Reuben with 129 properties are among the biggest property owners in the British capital.
With a portfolio of 106 properties, Wigwe ranks as the seventh highest foreign landlord on British soil. He died on February 9, 2024, near the Los Angeles-Nevada border, and his death triggered a prolonged legal dispute among associates and extended family members over ownership of his vast assets.
According to The Londoner, foreign investors and their companies have historically relied on tax havens such as Jersey, as well as shell companies, to acquire properties in London while obscuring ownership trails.
These offshore structures enabled beneficial owners to remain anonymous for years. However, this changed in 2022 when the UK government introduced reforms mandating foreign property owners to disclose their identities in a public register.
“That disclosure allowed Dan Neidle and the Tax Policy Associates to create a database of all of those properties that they released in January,” The Londoner said in the report.
The database ranks John Corless as the largest foreign landlord with 246 properties, followed by Sarah Bard with 130. Simon Reuben occupies third position with 129 properties, while Alexander Bard ranks fourth with 122. Wigwe, with 106 properties, is placed seventh on the list.
