Sven Lorenz founded the Sark Property Company as a vehicle for people to invest in the future of Sark, and had plans to purchase about 20% of the island, including commercial and residential property, currently owned by the Barclay family. The bid was rejected in autumn 2024 and the company has since mothballed its plans.
Mr Lorenz said that since then the island had been beset by political and financial turmoil and things had deteriorated more quickly than he expected.
‘When our bid failed, I predicted that Sark would continue to decline further,’ he said.
‘At the time, I kept the tone reasonably mild to avoid sounding like “sour grapes”. Now, a year later, I can be a bit more outspoken – even I did not expect Sark’s challenges to snowball this quickly.’
He said that although the island was small, its problems were not.
‘Under the current circumstances, I would not advise anyone to make long-term commitments to Sark,’ he said.
‘I believe the government has an internal document that sets the infrastructure needs at £20m., compared with Sark’s annual government budget of £2.5m. My own estimate of this backlog is £20-50m. Even the lower estimate of the backlog, when divided among the smaller number of working-age adults on the island, amounts to a funding need in the tens of thousands of pounds per resident.
‘For years, I have emphasised that I am only renting a house on the island because I lack confidence in its long-term viability and didn’t want to be stuck with a stranded asset.
‘In recent times, more than one resident has approached me to say that they now understand why I took this stance.’
His fellow director of the property company, the island’s Seigneur, Christopher Beaumont, said he did not want to criticise Sark’s government.
‘All I can say is, they’ve got a challenge,’ he said.
‘There is a challenge to find how to pay for all the things that they have to be paid for in today’s modern world. How do you raise the revenue without penalising the people who can least afford it on the island?’
He said that talk of changing the tax regime – a proposal is to be discussed by Chief Pleas later this month – had led to some people leaving or considering to leave Sark.
‘Some might say they’re not the sort of people we want on Sark anyway, but if they’re going to pay the bills, you’d probably rather not cut your nose off to spite your face. There has to be an understanding among government and among the local population, that we need wealth on the island in order to generate a sustainable economy.
‘If you get rid of the wealth, you don’t have a sustainable economy anymore. I’m sure Guernsey faces the same problem.’
Mr Lorenz said he had spoken out about his current position as he was fed up of being asked if he was tabling another bid for the Barclay Estate in light of further press coverage of the family’s financial issues.
‘The answer is simple – no, we are not. It’s as straightforward as that,’ he said.
As recently as 2022 the Barclay family were listed on the Sunday Times Rich list as having a fortune £6.2bn, but after well -documented financial problems, that has seen them sell or lose control of asset’s including London’s Ritz Hotel, The Telegraph newspaper and logistics group Yodel, they were removed from the 2025 list completely as ‘there was not enough “robust financial data” to estimate their wealth’.
However, despite his reticence, Mr Lorenz, who said he was currently launching a real estate fund in Ukraine, said he did not rule out revisiting a Sark property deal completely.
‘Ironically, a hot war country has proven easier to plan real estate investments for than Sark,’ he said. ‘If we ever considered another bid for a large commercial opportunity in Sark, it would probably happen quickly. Many prior investors have already offered to participate again. Raising large amounts of capital for Sark would now be a walk in the park for us.’
He said he still believed a decent amount of capital, invested in a targeted way, could make many of Sark’s problems disappear quite quickly and give the island positive momentum.
‘Just as in 2024, when I first embarked on this bid, Sark still has an opportunity to rejuvenate and secure a prosperous future – but only if it embraces outside investment and forward-thinking people. Potential is nothing without a plan and decisive action.’