Some directorships and shareholdings are curious… that’s not to say there are out of this world, or abnormal. Just curious.

And indeed I have seen yet more complex structures with other companies, but more on that later.

His business was very large and it is entirely normal to incorporate new companies to undertake, say, a new development. Or a company could be incorporated to effect a property transfer by way of a corporate transaction (selling the company that owns the land rather than selling the land itself).

Unlimited companies and companies in other jurisdictions are always going to offer tax and/or confidentiality benefits which would be exploited by advisers who are well paid to do so.

To be honest, given the nature and scale of his business interests, the corporate structure you outline so ably isn’t particularly complex.

Re the “curious” directorships. For one thing, most jurisdictions require at least one director to be a resident of the country in question. It is likely that the directors of the UK entity are tax or legal professionals. As for Ms. Romanova’s directorship. From the name of that company it appears to be a Special Purpose Vehicle to reduce taxation liability in the transfer of property by way of a corporate transfer as such has no life other than this purpose and it really would make no difference if its director was kermit the frog.