Brexit bonanza pushes British billionaires to record number

London has more than any city in world

A ‘BREXIT boom’ has helped build unprecedented fortunes and created more self-made UK billionaires than ever before.

The country’s wealthiest have seen their riches rise by a total of £83billion since the Leave vote despite predictions by Remain supporters that it would lead to economic disaster.

The UK’s richest include a record 130 women and London has 86 billionaires – more than any other city in the world. New York has 74, San Francisco 60, Moscow 58, Paris 33 and Tokyo 14.

The flourishing fortunes are revealed in the Sunday Times Rich List, which a year ago found the wealth of the mega-rich had slowed for the first time in six years.

This year there are 134 UK-based billionaires, up from 120 last year, and the total wealth of the 1,000 richest has surged by 14 per cent to £656billion.

The top 500 are richer in total than all 1,000 on the list last year, while 19 fortunes have increased by £1billion or more in the past 12 months.

Only nine of the list’s top 100 saw their fortunes fade, including scandal-hit retail giants Sir Philip Green and Mike Ashley.

Rich List compiler Robert Watts said: ‘While many of us worried about the outcome of the EU referendum, many of Britain’s richest people just kept calm and carried on making billions.

‘We expected to see a chilling effect in the run-up to the EU referendum, but that simply did not materialise.’

A buoyant stock market in the wake of the Brexit vote has been credited with helping to boost the fortunes of top entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Sri and Gopi Hinduja were ranked the richest in the country with a fortune of £16.2billion. Having first topped the list in 2014, the brothers have a vast array of business investments under the Hinduja Group.

In second place was Ukraineborn American businessman and Warner Music owner Len Blavatnik, whose wealth increased to £15.9billion, while property investors David and Simon Reuben took third place with a fortune of £14billion.

Perhaps the country’s most eligible bachelor is its youngest billionaire, Hugh Grosvenor, who was 25 last year when he inherited the Duke of Westminster’s title and wealth.

Now 26, he heads a family ranked ninth richest in the country with a fortune of £9.5billion.

One of the striking features of this year’s list was the record number of women on it. Experts said today’s business climate was more supportive of women, helping to put 130 on the list, compared with 19 in 1994.

Ex-Miss UK Kirsty Bertarelli is the highest-placed woman but her £11.5billion fortune is jointly held with her pharmaceuticals billionaire husband Ernesto.

Singer Adele entered the main list for the first time with her £125million, while Harry Potter author JK Rowling was ranked 196th richest with £650million.

It now requires £110million to make it on to the list, compared with £15million in 1997.

‘Chilling effect did not materialise’