Britain’s annual rich list unveiled on Sunday has a distinctly Indian flavour with two India-born brothers — Reuben and the Hinduja — grabbing the top two slots as some of the UK’s super-rich suffered the worst hammering of their fortunes following the steel industry crisis.
Mumbai-born tycoons David and Simon Reuben have topped The Sunday Times Rich List 2016 with a fortune of £13.1 billion, followed by the Hinduja brothers at £13 billion. The Reubens were born in India to a wealthy Iraqi-Jewish family before moving to Britain in the 1950’s. This year, they have increased their fortune by £3.4 billion to jump to the top slot from last year’s fifth position.
“Their mouth-watering collection of London property includes Millbank Tower, the John Lewis Partnership HQ in Victoria and shops in Sloane Street. The list goes on. They own London Oxford Airport and London Heliport and were a leading investor in Metro Bank, which floated last month at £1.6 billion,” the newspaper notes.
Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja, who head the Hinduja Group, hold on to their second rank from last year with an unchanged fortune. “The old War Office in London’s Whitehall was bought for £300 million by the Hinduja family in March on a 250-year lease. They plan to turn it into a hotel worth £1 billion,” it noted.
Mittal takes a hit However, another Indian tycoon did not have a similarly fruitful year with Lakshmi N Mittal’s steel empire taking a hit from the global industry crisis and losing nearly three-quarters of his wealth.
