LONDON, Apr 21: Indian-origin steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who spent eight years at the top of the Sunday Times Rich List, has dropped down to fourth position this year while leading NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul has emerged as the wealthiest Peer in the House of Lords.
Sri and Gopi Hinduja, the Chairman and co-Chairman of the Hinduja group, take the third place. The Hinduja brothers are worth 10.6 billion pounds in 2013 as against 8.6 billion pounds last year.
59-year-old Russian Billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who has a near 30 per cent stake in Arsenal Football Club, is the richest person in Britain with a fortune worth 13.3 billion pounds.
His business empire, which started with the making of plastic bags, ranges from Metalloinvest, Russia’s biggest iron ore producer, to a stake in mail.Run, the country’s largest internet company, and a big holding in MegaFon, a mobile phone operator which listed on the London and Moscow stock markets last year.
Mittal, now worth 10 billion pounds, is the biggest faller in wealth terms. His wealth was worth 12.7 billion pounds last year.
The report said “the 40 per cent stake Mittal and his wife Usha hold in the steelmaking giant ArcelorMittal has plummeted from 28 billion pounds at its peak to 5.95 billion pounds.”
According to the list, Lord Paul, Chairman of the Caparo Group is the richest Peer in the House of Lords with a fortune worth 2 billion pounds.
According to the list, Lord Paul’s fortune has been boosted by profits from his Caparo steel and engineering firm.
The highest placed UK-born person is Gerald Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, who is worth 7.8 billion and ranked eighth.
Russian-born Len Blavatnik, whose rise in wealth from 3.4 billion pounds last year to 11 billion pounds this year, makes him the highest riser in wealth terms. Bhavatnik owns Warner Music, and received 2 billion pounds last month for his stake in TNK-BP.
The number of billionaires in the UK has increased 10-fold since the Sunday Times Rich List was first published in 1989, shooting from nine to 88. There were 77 last year.
In 1989, the Queen topped the list with total wealth of 5.2 billion pounds. This valuation included all the Crown Estates and the royal art collection.
In later years, the Queen has been valued solely on her personal wealth and no longer topped the list after 1993. (PTI)
^^^^
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel