Rich List 2017 Billionaires
dividends. But the 49-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent avoids airs
and graces and is unlikely to let smashing another glass ceiling go
to her head. She launched online gaming operation Bet365 from
a portable office in a car park in Stoke in 2001. Her father, Peter,
79, chairman of Stoke City football club and of Bet365, ran a
bookmaker’s where she marked up bets as a schoolgirl. After
bagging a first in econometrics at Sheffield University, she trained
in accountancy at the family business and was soon in charge,
expanding it to almost 50 shops. She said: “The internet offered
the opportunity of being a global player and it excited me hugely.”
Bet365 turned out to be a sure thing. The website, advertised by
Ray Winstone , moves seamlessly between 18 languages and in
2015-16 took £37bn of wagers (equivalent to the GDP of
Slovenia ), with profits surging 12.4% to £4 60m and revenues up
to £1.55bn. Coates, who backed the “remain” side in the EU
referendum with a £262,500 donation, is joint chief executive
with brother John, 47. She lives in Cheshire with husband Richard
Smith, Bet365’s property director, and five children. Bet365 is
worth at least £4.5bn and the family owns 93.3%, with Denise’s
50.25% the biggest stake. The family picked up a £128m dividend
in 2015-16. Will Roseff (qv) owns 6.6%. 2016: £3.765bn, 24
Women entrepreneurs, page 5223 £ 4.865bn £ 345 m ▲
SIR RICHARD BRANSON AND FAMILY
Transport, fi nance and fi tness clubs See panel, opposite24 £ 4.62bn £ 290 m ▲
CHRISTO WIESE
Retailing and propertyLaunched in 2015 with a £20m investment, budget fashion
retailer Pep & Co opened 50 stores in as many days and plans up
to 100 more in branches of Poundland. South African retail mogul
Wiese, 75, owns both chains. In 2015 his investment vehicle Brait
snapped up the New Look fashion chain for £780m from Tom
Singh (qv), and Sir Richard Branson’s (qv) 80% stake in Virgin
Active gyms for £682m. It paid Lord Kirkham (qv) £172m to raise
its 19% holding in food giant Iceland to 57%. 2016: £4.33bn, 2225 £ 4.601 bn £ 1.501 bn ▲
JOE LEWIS
Foreign exchange and investmentEast Ender Lewis, 80, made his fortune in the hospitality
business. He has interests in more than 200 companies through
his Tavistock vehicle and a stake in UK pub firm Mitchells &
Butlers, which has fallen in value to £272m. His vast art
collection includes works by Picasso. Lewis will be pleased his
other quality British asset, Tottenham Hotspur football club, is
riding high in the Premier League. 2016: £3.1bn, 3326 £ 4.26bn £ 200 m ▲
BRUNO SCHRODER AND FAMILY
FinanceSchroder, 84, gave £50,000 to the “remain” campaign, then saw
the share price of his finance group plummet after Brexit, but it
soon recovered and pushed to new heights. Schroder, the
great-great-grandson of the Schroders founder, is a non-
executive director of the £8bn City-based firm. It became a fund
manager after the banking arm was sold in 2000, with the family
making £320m. The Schroders have a 48% stake worth more
than £3.8bn in the main business. 2016: £4.06bn, 2327= £ 3.977 bn £ 393 m▼
NATHAN KIRSH
Cash and carry, property and investmentLondon-based Kirsh, 85, donated £500,000 to Britain Stronger
in Europe, the official “remain” campaign group, through his
property company Tower Limited Partnership. In 2011 the South
African-born businessman bought the City skyscraper Tower 42
(formerly the NatWest Tower) for £28 3m, part of a portfolio of
assets worth £940m. He controls the Kirsh Group, which has a
75% stake in the New York cash-and-carry operation Jetro , and
has supplied more than 12,000 people in Swaziland with starter
capital for small companies. 2016: £4.37bn, 2127= £ 3.977bn £ 1.037bn ▲
SRI PRAKASH LOHIA
Textiles and plasticsLondon-based Lohia, 64, the brother-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal
(qv), is looking to Africa to increase his fortune. He is best known
in London for buying and renovating Sheridan House in Mayfair
for £50m. Indian-born Lohia, an Indonesian citizen, helped his
father turn Indorama into one of the world’s largest textile and
plastics firms, with plants in India, Thailand, Turkey, Sri Lanka,
and Indonesia. Its investment in Africa will increase from $2bn to
$4.2bn by 2020. His son Amit runs it. 2016: £2.94bn, 3730 £ 3.73bn £ 100 m ▲
BARONESS HOWARD DE WALDEN AND FAMILY
PropertyThe Howard de Walden family’s 92-acre London estate , which
includes world-famous Harley Street, has been transformed in
recent years, with Marylebone High Street regarded as one of the
capital’s most fashionable shopping areas. The family is led by
the 81-year-old 10th Baroness, the eldest of four daughters of the
late Lord Howard de Walden, who died in 1999. She and her three
sisters sit on the board, overseeing an estate that comprises
about 850 buildings. We value the family’s business assets at
£3.5bn, adding £230m for other wealth. 2016: £3.63bn, 2529 £ 3.862 bn New entry ★
ALEJANDRO SANTO DOMINGO AND LADY CHARLOTTE WELLESLEY
Inheritance, brewing and investmentIn a boon for society pages across
several continents, the Colombian-
American billionaire Alejandro Santo
Domingo, 40, married British blue-blood
Lady Charlotte Wellesley , 26, in a
16th-century Spanish church last May.
Those in the pews included the Duchess
of Cornwa ll, Juan Carlos I and the singer
James Blunt.
New York-based Santo Domingo is
the Harvard-educated heir to
Colombia’s Bavaria brewery, sold 12
years ago by his late father, Julio Mario,
for a 15% holding in SABMiller, then
the world’s second-largest brewer.
The stake is the largest in the privately
held Santo Domingo Group’s portfolio
of companies.With his square jaw, philanthropic
leanings and £3.2bn fortune, Santo
Domingo was the prize of Manhattan’s
dating scene. But it took English rose
Wellesley , fourth daughter of the 9th Duke
of Wellington and Princess Antonia of
Prussia, to capture his heart.
Wellesley, who has an Oxford degree
in archaeology and anthropology , has
become an assistant to photographer
Mario Testino. Her Twitter handle is
CAW blimey and she sailed in the tough
Fastnet race in 2011. For her wedding
breakfast, Wellesley eschewed her
family’s 2,743-acre seat, Stratfield Saye in
Hampshire, in favour of its 2,359-acre pile
in Granada, gifted to the first duke for
supporting the Spanish against Napoleon.JOE LEWIS
Entry 25, £4.601bnREUTERS; GETTY; ALAMY
The Sunday Times Magazine • 25