Words: Violet
The Sunday Times released their ‘Britain’s Rich List’ this week and it is safe to say it has turned up some interesting results. The amount of billionaires in the UK has risen to more than 100 for the first time ever and our country now has more billionaires per capita than any other country in the world. Of those 104 billionaires they have a combined fortune of £301bn. What’s more, with 72, London has more billionaires than any other city in the world (Moscow is in second with 48). Creator of the list, Philip Beresford, spoke to the BBC, saying “culture, financial services, nice tax regime, good education for their kids and a nice lifestyle where they meet their friends” were among the reasons billionaires were attracted to the UK.
We take a detailed look at the Top 10 on the list…
1. SRI AND GOPI HINDUJA (INDUSTRY AND FINANCE) £11.9 BIL, , Srichand and Gopichand, who run the global conglomerate Hinduja Group, share the top spot with their combined wealth of £11.9 billion, a figure which rose by 1.3bn last year taking them from second to first place.
2. ALISHER USMANOV (MINING AND INVESTMENT) £10.65 BIL, , Though Russian business magnate Alisher Usmanov was knocked off the top spot this year he still has a lot to shout about. He is a shareholder at Arsenal Football Club and owns three of the biggest social networks in Russia.
3. LAKSHMI MITTAL AND FAMILY (STEEL) £10.25 BIL
Nicknamed the ‘King of Steel’, Mittal, who has stakes in QPR, has seen a few tough few years in the steel industry, but this year has been an improvement in share price. Lakshmi’s brother-in-law and India-born textiles and plastics tycoon Lohia is ranked as Britain’s 46th richest man with around 2.11 billion pounds.
4. LEN BLAVATNIK (INVESTMENT, MUSIC AND MEDIA) £10 BIL
, Len Blavatnik founded a private equity investment firm named Access Industries. He was educated at Moscow State University before moving to the US and completing a masters in Computer Science from Columbia University followed by an MBA from Harvard Business School.
5. ERNESTO AND KIRSTY BERTARELLI (PHARMACEUTICALS) £9.75 BIL
This pharmaceutical billionaire has won the America’s Cup yachting race twice. His wife, Kirsty, is a former Miss Uk and is a singer/songwriter.
6. JOHN FREDRIKSEN AND FAMILY (SHIPPING AND OIL SERVICES) £9.25 BIL
John Fredriksen, who turned 70 this May, made his fortune in the 1980s Iraq-Iran War providing tankers to pick up oil. He is Norway’s richest man and is still very much integral to the running of his 14 publicly listed companies in the shipping industry.
7. DAVID AND SIMON REUBEN (PROPERTY AND INTERNET) £9 BIL
With their company Reuben Brothers, the Indian born twosome, who originally started out in the metal business in the 1990s in Russia, are major players in the London property market. They own Milbank Tower and Connaught House and plan to turn a building in London into one of Britain’s most expensive homes.
8. KIRSTEN AND JORN RAUSING (INHERITANCE AND INVESTMENT) £8.8 BIL, , These children of the late Gad Rausing inherited the Swedish Tetra pack packaging group.
9. ROMAN ABRAMOVICH (OIL AND INDUSTRY) £8.52 BIL
Famous for his expensive £2bn transformation of Chelsea Football Club, this tycoon has money in property, art and yachts.
10. THE DUKE OF WESTMINSTER (PROPERTY) £8.5 BIL
Owner of the Grosvenor Group property corporation, The Duke of Westminster owns 300 acres of Belgravia and Mayfair as well as a chuck on Oxford Street making him one of the biggest players in the London property scene.
Want to see who rounded out the Top 20?, 11. GALEN, HILARY AND GEORGE WESTON AND FAMILY (RETAILING) £7.3 BIL
12. CHARLENE DE CARVALHO HEINEKEN AND MICHEL DE CARVALHO (INHERITANCE, BREWING AND BANKING) £6.365 BIL
13. MOHAMED BIN ISSA AL JABER AND FAMILY (HOTELS, FOOD AND INDUSTRY) £6.16 BIL
14. CARRIE AND FRANCOIS PERRODO AND FAMILY (OIL, GAS AND WINE) £6.14 BIL
15. GERMAN KHAN (INVESTMENT) £6.08 BIL
16. SIR DAVID AND SIR FREDERICK BARCLAY (PROPERTY, MEDIA AND INTERNET RETAILING) £6 BIL
17. HANS RAUSING AND FAMILY (PACKAGING) £5.9 BIL
18. NICKY OPPENHEIMER AND FAMILY (DIAMONDS AND MINING) 4.57 BIL
19. EARL CADOGAN AND FAMILY (PROPERTY) £4.2 BIL
20. JOSEPH LAU AND FAMILY (PROPERTY) £4.03 BIL
By Victoria Gardiner Twitter @vicky_gardiner
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