Foreign-born dominate UK’s rich list

Foreign-born dominate UK’s rich list

By David Turner in London

Published: April 27 2008 19:28 | Last updated: April 27 2008 19:28

A closely watched list of the wealthiest people in Britain underlines the contribution made by foreigners to the country’s status as one of the prime locations for the world’s super-rich.

Only six of the top 20 in the annual Sunday Times Rich List were born in Britain. The news makes clear the high stakes the left-of-centre Labour government of Gordon Brown, prime minister, has been playing with as it has sought to remove some of the favourable tax advantages enjoyed by foreigners living in Britain – a group known as non-domiciles or “non-doms”.

But there is little evidence that many of the foreign super-rich have, as threatened, quit the country, though a large number are still talking about leaving.

A slowdown in the overall growth of wealth among the 1,000 people on the list also suggests the global economic slowdown has begun to bite. The combined value of their assets climbed 15 per cent in the year to January 2008 to £413bn – a large increase, but slower than the previous year’s 20 per cent rise. Their wealth has increased 317 per cent since Labour came to power in 1997.

Top of the league is Lakshmi Mittal and family, the Indian steel dynasty, with a £27.7bn fortune. Other rich Asians on the list include the brothers Gopi and Sri Hinduja, whose wealth from their family industrial and financial empire is estimated to be £6.2bn. Anil Agarwal, founder and chairman of the mining group Vedanta Resources, is estimated to be worth £2.45bn, while Lord Swraj Paul, founder of the London-based Caparo industry group that has invested heavily in India, is judged to be worth £1.5bn.

The list of the 20 wealthiest people born or based in Britain also includes figures from a host of other nations including Russia, Norway and Romania.

Philip Beresford, one of the research’s authors, writes in the Sunday Times that the foreign-born billionaires are “getting richer quicker” – including Mr Mittal and family, whose wealth has grown 44 per cent in a year, according to the list. “By contrast,” says Mr Beresford, “many of the British-born rich have seen their fortunes clipped back as the economic outlook worsens.”

Mr Beresford cites the retail billionaire Sir Philip Green and his wife, whose wealth has fallen by £570m to £4.3bn, and serial entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, whose value has dropped £400m to £2.7bn.

The survey also highlights the plight of Vincent Tchenguiz, the investor and property dealer. In a table of “biggest fallers”, it pithily attributes a 76 per cent drop in his wealth to £200m to the “credit crunch”.

The richest Briton is the Duke of Westminster, whose property portfolio, which includes swaths of prime central London property, gives him a £7bn fortune – placing him third in the overall rankings.

The top 30 philanthropists on the list pledged or gave £2.4bn during the year – more than five times the 2006 total.

Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling’s fortune is put at £560m – up from £545m – making her, yet again, Britain’s richest author.

The Sunday Times put ex-Beatle Paul McCartney’s wealth at £500m, close to the £400m calculated by the judge in his acrimonious divorce from Heather Mills, but well short of the £800m she said he was worth.

The newspaper’s rich list is composed of just over 1,000 men and 96 women. Of the richest 1,000, 762 are self-made millionaires while 238 inherited their wealth.

Queen Elizabeth, who 20 years ago topped the rich list, now ranks number 264 with an estimated wealth of £320m. Her earlier top spot included the royal art collection which, under a new methodology, is no longer counted as part of her personal fortune.