Prosperity Capital Management, a hedge fund focused on investments in Russian equities, has blamed Brexit and the UK's "uncooperative" business environment for its decision to shift its operations from London to Abu Dhabi, according to a report by IntelliNews.

The report quotes the firm’s co-founder and chief executive, Mattias Westman, as saying in an interview that the economic and political fallout from the UK’s decision to exit the European Union had triggered the move.

“[The] UK is getting increasingly insular and uncooperative in my view,” Westman told bne IntelliNews. “I guess Brexit was a specific reason to leave, and [moving to] Abu-Dhabi is because it’s friendly.”

The winding up of the firm office on Regent Street in London's West End, is expected to be completed by the end of this year, while a new office in France will now serve as Prosperity's European marketing arm, as the firm needed a EU to continue to “passport” its UCITS fund after the Brexit transition period ended.