The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Chemicals entrepreneur UK’s wealthiest person
‘Publicity shy’ chief executive jumps to first place
A “publicity shy” petrochemicals entrepreneur is now the richest man in Britain after his wealth leapt £15.3 billion in a single year, while Sir Philip Green and Jamie Oliver saw their fortunes slide.
Jim Ratcliffe, 65, chief executive of Ineos, topped The Sunday Times Rich List with a fortune of £21.05bn, leapfrogging his way from 18th place last year.
Mr Ratcliffe, whose firm is currently locked in a legal battle with the Scottish Government over its moratorium on fracking, emerged in pole position after additional details led to a “substantial revaluation” of his assets.
The Sunday Times has previously described him as publicity shy.
Ineos’s director Andy Currie and finance director John Reece shared in his fortunes, joining Ratcliffe in the top 20, taking joint 16th place with fortunes of £7bn each.
At second place were the Hinduja brothers, Sri and Gopi, worth £20.64bn.
Their fortune jumped by £4.44bn on 2017, with their India-based car manufacturer Ashok Leyland and Mumbai-based IndusInd Bank having a particularly successful year.
British-American industrialist turned-media mogul Sir Len Blavatnik came in third place with £15.26bn to his name.
The 60-year-old was knighted this year for services to philanthropy – recent donations include £50 million to fund the Tate Modern’s new wing, and £5m towards the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new entrance, as well as funding the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University.
This year is the 30th anniversary of the Rich List, with the top 20 now worth a combined £218.6bn – increasing their cumulative wealth by £33. 5bn in the last year.
Of the 1,000 people on the list, 145 are billionaires.
There are now 141 women on the list, with Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken of the brewing dynasty ranked highest at number six.
She and her financier husband Michel de Carvalho – vice-chairman of Citigroup – increased their wealth by almost 20% over the past year to £11.1bn.
Elsewhere, Arcadia boss Sir Philip Green’s fortune took a tumble – his reputation was dragged through the mud following the collapse of BHS after he sold it to a man twice declared bankrupt for just £1.
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver exited the list completely following a rocky year for his eponymous restaurant empire – it is still undergoing restructuring after racking up debts of more than £70 million.