Rich List 2017 Billionaires
is best known as a developer of shopping centres: Sheffield’s
Meadowhall, where he worked alongside Paul Sykes (qv); Centro
in the Ruhr, Germany; and Parc Trostre in Wales, which he sold for
£156m in 2014, pushing his fortune to £980m. His son Mark has
moved into renewables via wind farms. 2016: £1.43bn, 73=86= £ 1.48bn £ 80 m ▲
STEVE LANSDOWN
FinanceLansdown, 64, saw his stake in Hargreaves Lansdown, the Bristol
financial group he co-founded with Peter Hargreaves (qv), fall
sharply after the Brexit vote but it has bounced back to £1. 035bn ,
up £62m on a year ago. The Guernsey resident’s main focus
today is Bristol Sport, which brings together his Bristol City
football club and other sports, and is run by his son Jon. Former
accountant Lansdown also has a £15m sustainable technology
portfolio that includes projects in Africa. 2016: £1.4bn, 75=88 £ 1.454 bn £ 204 m ▲
JOHN BLOOR
Construction and motorcyclesThe turnover of Bloor’s two businesses purred past £1bn in
2015-16. The Derbyshire miner’s son set up his housebuilding firm
Bloor Homes in 1969 and acquired the Triumph Engineering
group’s name and manufacturing rights in 1983, spending £80m
on reviving the famous marque. The combined operation is worth
£1.4bn, allowing for a hefty brand value on the Triumph name.
Former plasterer Bloor, 73, owns it all. 2016: £1.25bn, 87=89 £ 1.45bn £ 325 m ▲
THOR BJORGOLFSSON
Finance and investmentBjorgolfsson once lost £3bn in three days. The Icelandic
entrepreneur, who lives in London, was one of the biggest
investors in his homeland’s banks when the financial crisis
erupted in 2008. He cancelled work on a £100m yacht and
issued a public apology, then worked out a complex agreement
to pay off debts of more than $1bn. The 50-year-old owns half of
P4, one of Poland’s largest mobile phone companies, where there
has been talk of a £1.5bn sale or float. 2016: £1.125bn, 101=90 £ 1.43bn £ 300 m ▲
CHRISTOPH HENKEL
ChemicalsRight Guard, Persil and Pritt Stick are some of the well-known
brands owned by German chemicals and detergents giant
Henkel, whose record share price values the business at more
than £40bn. London-based private equity financier Henkel, 59,
has a holding worth £1.3bn, plus technology, biotech and
film-making investments. His wife, Katrin, deals in Old Master
drawings and is a National Gallery trustee. 2016: £1.13bn, 10091 £ 1.42bn £ 20 m ▲
LADY BALLYEDMOND AND FAMILY
PharmaceuticalsUntil his death in 2014 in a helicopter accident Lord Ballyedmond
was in charge of Norbrook Laboratories, one of the world’s
leading veterinary pharmaceutical companies. He left a £344m
fortune and his £1bn Newry-based operation is led by his widow,
Lady Mary, 69, who is its deputy chairman. Profits reached
£23.2m on £202.2m sales in 2014-15, with £80.8m assets, while
other wealth takes the family to £1.42bn. 2016: £1.4bn, 75=92 £ 1.416 bn £ 16 m ▲
GEORG AND EMILY VON OPEL
Finance and propertyVon Opel, 51 last Thursday, is a director of two UK green energy
operations, GVO Wind and Hemswell Biogas. Much of the Opel
family money is held in Hansa, a holding firm with assets of about
£1.416bn. A great-grandson of Adam Opel, founder of the
German car maker, Von Opel owns all of Hansa, whose interestsinclude a Swiss hotel chain and shopping centres in Russia and
Algeria. He and his English wife, Emily, divide their time between
Britain and Switzerland. She plays a pivotal role in the Von Opel
Foundation, supporting vulnerable children. 2016: £1.4bn, 75=93 £ 1.38bn No change ■
WAFIC SAID
FinanceSaid sold a Modigliani portrait for £38.5m at Sotheby’s last
summer, having bought it 30 years earlier for £1.9m. A Syrian-
born fixer, he smoothed the way for the £43bn al-Yamamah arms
deal with Saudi Arabia in the 1980s, having come to London in the
late 1960s when he initially helped his brother run a kebab shop.
The son of an eye surgeon, Said met two Saudi princes, Bandar
and Khalid, and began to advise them on their financial affairs.
He now has construction, infrastructure, airports, desalination,
housing and hospital businesses in Saudi Arabia. Said, 77, and his
English wife, Rosemary, divide their time between Monaco, Paris
and a £30m Oxfordshire mansion. He spent £70m setting up the
Said Business School in Oxford. 2016: £1.38bn, 8094 £ 1.36bn £ 110 m ▲
JON HUNT
Estate agency and propertyColchester-born Hunt, 63, is holding on to his assets amid the
current slowdown in the commercial market, but is set to earn
well from two new 25-storey London tower blocks. Hunt sold the
Foxtons estate agency chain for £375m and now has a £600m
property portfolio. He has just won a legal battle to build a
three-storey basement beneath his Kensington mansion,
featuring a 180ft Ferris wheel rotating slowly to show off his eight
classic Ferraris from every angle. 2016: £1.25bn, 87=95= £ 1.35bn £ 10 m ▲
LORD ASHCROFT
Business servicesAshcroft sat in the Lords as a Conservative until 2015, the year he
co-wrote a controversial biography of David Cameron, claiming
he had a personal “beef ” with the then prime minister. He built his
fortune with the ADT cleaning and security business, making
£500m when it was taken over in 1997. Other sales added
£332m. Ashcroft, 71, chairs and owns half of Impellam, the UK’s
second largest staffing business, which saw profits surge to
£39.4m on £1.8bn sales in 2015-16. The life peer’s collection of
more than 200 Victoria Crosses is held in London at the Imperial
War Museum’s Lord Ashcroft Gallery. 2016: £1.34bn, 8195= £ 1.35bn £ 200 m ▲
JOHAN ELIASCH
Sports equipmentMaria Sharapova’s return to competitive tennis last month was
good news for her racket sponsor, Head. The sports equipment
company controlled by London-based Swede Eliasch was widely
criticised for standing by the Russian during her 15-month ban for
use of the prohibited drug meldonium. Head has also sponsored
Sir Andy Murray (qv) throughout his career. It was floated in 2000
and Eliasch, 55, also made hefty profits investing in the Scholl
health sandal firm. In 2007 he purchased a piece of the equatorial
rainforest the size of Greater London for £8m to help the fight
against illegal logging. Earlier this year he said that Brussels had
more to lose from a hard Brexit than the UK. 2016: £1.15bn, 95=97 £ 1.33bn £ 30 m ▲
FRED AND PETER DONE
GamblingHaving started out working as runners for their bookmaker father,
Salford-born brothers Fred, 74, and Peter, 70, own Betfred, one of
Britain’s largest betting shop chains, which last year appointed
the investment bank Rothschild to look at a possible flotation. In
2011 Betfred took over rival operation the Tote for £265m, but the
siblings have not always picked winners: their business lost more
than £1m as a result of Leicester City’s extraordinary victory in
last season’s Premier League title race. 2016: £1.3bn, 82=COOL HEAD:
JOHAN ELIASCH
Entry 95=, £1.35bnCHRISTOPH HENKEL
Entry 90, £1.43bnJOHN CAUDWELL
Entry 82=, £1.514bnREX; ALAMY;FAMOUS
The Sunday Times Magazine • 43