ENGINE ROOM’
IS HIGHLIGHTED IN THE LATEST RICH LIST...
Despite being £1.841bn worse off compared to 2017, Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli top the West Midlands Rich List again this year, with a fortune just shy of £10bn, at £9.659bn.
Kirsty Bertarelli, the Staffordshireborn songwriter and former Miss UK who co-wrote the track Black Coffee, a hit for the girl band All Saints, is Britain’s third wealthiest woman. Ernesto Bertarelli’s family sold their biotech business Serono for $13.3bn in 2006, netting the family $8.6bn. Mr Bertarelli has furthered the family fortune by investing in the Swiss pharma businesses, Santhera and Stallergenes Greer. He has also diversified into other sectors.
Robert Watts, compiler of The Sunday Times Rich List, said: “The Midlands is the engine room of Britain’s economy so it’s no surprise to see tycoons like Lord Edmiston from the car industry and Lord Bamford from the manufacturing world feature prominently in the region’s Rich List. Many of these entrepreneurs enjoyed a ‘Brexit dividend’ with the weaker pound making their products cheaper to exporters. 1 Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli 2 Denise, John and Peter Coates 3 Lord Bamford and family 4 John Caudwell 5 Tony Murray and family 6 Lord Edmiston 7 Steve Morgan 8 Tony Gallagher 9 Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan 10 Sir Peter Rigby 11 Caspar MacDonald-Hall and family 12 Roy Richardson and family 13 Thomas Hartland-Mackie and family 14 Richard Harpin 15 Geoff Wilding 16 Paul Newey 17 Andrew Thorpe and family 18 Andrew and Linda Leaver 19 Keith Bradshaw and family 20 Simon Clarke and family
“But over our 30 editions we’ve seen more and more diversity in how these entrepreneurs make their money and our Midlands Rich List epitomises that change, with vast fortunes now being made from mobile phones, online gambling and even selling chickens.” £9.659bn £5.754bn £3.6bn £1.566b £1.225bn £1.04bn £942m £850m £746m £625m £610m £470m £469m £458m £285m £241m £228m £225m £218m £212m Do £1.841bn Up £754m Up £300m Up £52m Up £55m Up £20m Up £111m No change Up £202m Up £25m Up £110m No change Up £13m Up £102m New entry Up £3m Up £48m Up £15m Up £3m Up £32m