Super-rich Britain becomes billionaire capital of the world
Musicals star Sir Cameron joins wealthiest in country
BRITAIN has become the superrich capital of the world – with more than 100 billionaires living in the UK for the first time, seven of them north of the Border.
A total of 104 billionaires now call Britain home, with a combined wealth of £301billion between them, it was revealed yesterday.
Among new members of the billionaires club are West End producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh – whose musical successes include Les Miserables, The Phantom of The Opera, Cats and Miss Saigon – who saw his fortune rise to £1billion in the past year.
The vast majority of UK billionaires, 72, have their homes in London, meaning the capital boasts the greatest number of billionaires of any city in the world, beating New York (43) and Moscow (48) to the top spot.
But only a third of Britain’s billionaires were actually born British, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.
Indian-born brothers Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja top the table, with a combined wealth of £11.9billion from their global conglomerate. They are fol-
Wealth tops £300billion
lowed by international tycoons and oligarchs who made their fortunes in aluminium, oil and coal, including Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov and Queens Park Rangers stakeholder and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal also feature.
The only British-born billionaire in the top ten is the Duke of Westminster, who owns swathes of central London and takes tenth place in the list with his £8.5billion fortune.
Britain now has one billionaire for every 607,692 residents, compared to one for every 1,022,475 in the US.
Francois-Henri Pinault, head of the Gucci fashion empire, is moving to London from France with his actress wife Salma Hayek after the French government introduced a 75 per cent tax rate, though the couple say this is not the reason for their move.
Scots who can also boast a ten-figure bank balance i nclude Stagecoach founders Sir Brian Souter and Ann Gloag whose fortunes rose by £270million last year to £1bn for the first time.
As Scotland’s wealthiest woman, Mrs Gloag, 71, yesterday pledged to give away half of her fortune to good causes. Other wealthy individuals and families who live in Scotland or have substantial business interests here include Mohamed Al-Fayed, whose r ecent breaks with Fulham FC and Harrods have weakened his links to England. The 85- year- old’s estimated worth is £1.3billion. The Grant- Gordon whisky family, meanwhile, has displaced Mahdi alTajir, the Highland Spring tycoon, at the No 1 spot, with a £1.9billion fortune.