Glencore float fuels wealth of UK’s super rich
THE wealth of Britain’s richest people, including a series of investors in Glencore, jumped by nearly five per cent to a record £414bn last year, according to new research.
The combined assets of the 1,000 most affluent people rose 4.7 per cent, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, despite the nation’s plunge back into recession.
Several saw their wealth swelled by the $10bn listing of mining giant Glencore, in May. Aristotelis Mistakidis, head of the company’s zinc and copper unit, made his first appearance on the list with an estimated fortune of £1.7bn, making him the 38th richest person in Britain. Alex Beard, head of oil trading, has £1.3bn, putting him in 52nd position.
Chris Mahoney, head of Glencore’s agricultural arm, has grown his wealth from £80m to £630m, putting him at number 132.
Businessmen and women from the worlds of land, property, financial services and industry dominated the list, which included 77 billionaires.
The three top places in the list were filled by foreign-born magnates with a base in Britain who earned their fortunes from industries such as minerals, steel and oil.
Lakshmi Mittal and family came out on top despite losing a quarter of their wealth over the past year following a fall in the share value of his company ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker.
The Indian-born businessman saw his personal worth slide 27 per cent to £12.7bn but heads the list for the eighth year running.
Uzbek-born billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who owns around 30 per cent of Arsenal football club, was again in second place. His fortune dipped 0.7 per cent to £12.3bn.
Roman Abramovich, the Russian who owns Chelsea, held onto third place with a personal value of £9.5bn, down 7.8 per cent from last year.
The richest British-born billionaire was the Duke of Westminster, who slid from fourth to seventh place even though his largely property-based fortune rose five per cent to £7.35bn.
Britain’s richest woman was former “Miss UK” beauty queen Kirsty Bertarelli, who shares a £7.4bn fortune with her Swiss-Italian entrepreneur husband Ernesto.
Amanda Staveley, the dealmaker who helped the Abu Dhabi royal family to invest in Barclays and Manchester City, had estimated assets of £100m.
The annual list is based on identifiable wealth, including land, property and other items such as art, racehorses or significant shares in publicly quoted companies, but does not include bank accounts.