Glencore float helps Nat Rothschild climb the list
CITY high flyers feature prominently in this year’s Sunday Times rich list, as the driver of Britain’s economy continues to grow the wealth of the finance sector’s super rich.
There are now 180 financial multimillionaires in the list, up ten on last year.
Banking dynasty heir Nat Rothschild has usurped the wealth of his father Jacob, Lord Rothschild, having more than doubled his cash pot to hit a cool £1bn.
His stake in commodities colossus Glencore, placed through a £25m bond purchase in 2009, will convert into shares worth up to £50m when the company lists in London later this year.
A boom in commodity prices has also helped to propel his Vallar Resources coal mining investment shell sky high since it listed on the London Stock Exchange last year, helping Rothschild to net £670m in one year.
City hedge fund managers have also had a bumper year, with more than 50 top stock pickers among Britain’s richest 1,000 people.
Hedge fund manager Robert Miller joins Nat Rothschild, who alongside his commodities trading is chairman of hedge fund Attara, as the richest stock picker.
Miller’s Sail Advisors has helped him to net an extra £50m for his cash pot last year, taking his fortune to £1bn.
Hedge fund manager Alan Howard, who founded asset management behemoth Brevan Howard, places third on the list with an estimated fortune of £975m.
The 55 hedge fund managers and commodities traders on the list have a collective wealth of £12.6bn, or 3.2 per cent of the total top 1,000.
Bankers also saw their fortunes increase this year, with a number of top City names placing high on the list.
Barclays duo Roger Jenkins, the banker who quit to set up his own advisory firm in 2009, and chief executive Bob Diamond are the richest bankers in the list.
Jenkins holds a fortune totalling some £150m, whilst Diamond is worth £102m.
Banking dynasty heiress Ana Botin, the chief executive of high street lender Santander’s British division, also places high on the list. She is worth about £90m.
Botin is said to be the frontrunner to run the whole group when her father Emilio, 76, steps aside.