Birmingham Post - Rich List - Rich List Profiles 09

Former Miss UK on top of the Birmingham Post Rich List

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:12:00 GMT

Kirsty Bertarelli, a former Miss UK from Stone in Staffordshire, heads this year’s Birmingham Post Rich List of the Midlands’ 50 wealthiest people with a family fortune estimated at £5.5billion.

Former Miss UK on top of the Birmingham Post Rich List

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:01:00 GMT

Kirsty Bertarelli, a former Miss UK from Stone in Staffordshire, heads this year’s Birmingham Post Rich List of the Midlands’ 50 wealthiest people with a family fortune estimated at £5.5billion.

1. (-) Kirsty Bertarelli £5.5bn (-)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:05:00 GMT

There are several ways of achieving the wealth needed to get included in the Birmingham Post Rich List. Some do it through inheritance, some through entrepreneurship, and some through the good fortune of being in the right place at the right time

2. (4) Sir Anthony Bamford £1.8bn (£1.2bn)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:00:00 GMT

A year’s a long time in digger manufacturing, someone might have said. Well, probably not, but if they had they would have been right.

3. (1) John Caudwell £1.65bn (£1.65bn)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:56:00 GMT

John Caudwell has been at the top of the Birmingham Post Rich List for some years now, but this year he has been overtaken and pushed down to third place.

4. (2) Lord Paul of Marylebone and Family £1.5bn (£1.5bn)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:53:00 GMT

Lord Paul’s Caparo Group aims to be the biggest automotive technology company in India. It’s well on the way.

5. (3) Viscount Portman and Family £1.35bn (£1.45bn)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:50:00 GMT

Viscount Portman’s 110-acre Central London estate has a new chief executive, but its improvement plans continue apace.

6. (5) Randy Lerner £800m (£800m)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:48:00 GMT

You heard it here first. In the 2008 Birmingham Post Rich List we gave you the exclusive news that Brooklyn-born Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner was buying a house near Birmingham.

7. (6) Felix Dennis £750m (£750m)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:46:00 GMT

Felix Dennis has been on tour. His nationwide poetry tour entitled “Did I Mention the Free Wine” took up much of the back end of last year, and knowing Felix Dennis’s love of fine French wine, the free wine was probably pretty good.

8. (7) David Wilson and Family £730m (£725m)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:44:00 GMT

David Wilson must be thinking he got out of the house-building business in the nick of time. By good fortune or good judgement – it matters not – he disposed of his building interests at the top of the market.

9. (8) John Bloor £640m (£650m)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:41:00 GMT

Housebuilders are coming up with some ingenious ways of keeping the sluggish property market on the move and motorcycles-to-houses millionaire John Bloor’s Bloor Homes is no exception.

10. (11) Jorgen Philip-Sorensen £630m (£600m)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:39:00 GMT

Jorgen Philip-Sorensen’s Ecover Group has been recognised by the United Nations Environmental Programme for its outstanding practical contributions to the preservation and improvement of the environment.

11. (10) Robert Edmiston £630m (£630m)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:37:00 GMT

Robert Edmiston believes that things are difficult enough for small businesses, without the ever growing burden of red tape and regulation dragging them down.

12. (9) Jacques Gaston Murray £625m (£640m)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:35:00 GMT

Jacques Gaston Murray doesn’t like wet summers. His Wolverhampton-based heating and cooling company Andrews Sykes Group makes much of its money from air-conditioning and ventilation systems.

13. (11) Sir Peter Rigby £520m (£520m)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:32:00 GMT

Birmingham computer entrepreneur and aviation enthusiast Sir Peter Rigby is spreading his wings. He had added another luxury hotel to his collection, bringing his portfolio to three.

14. (13) Tony Gallagher £500m (£475m)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:30:00 GMT

If you look at the long lists of business, retail and residential developments under way by the two divisions of Tony Gallagher’s company, you wouldn’t believe there had ever been a credit crunch.

15. (24) Sir Michael Bishop £480m (£200m)

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:23:00 GMT

After months of takeover speculation, Sir Michael Bishop finally sold his share of Castle Donnington-based Bmi to Lufthansa in a pre-Christmas deal.

16. (14) Roy Richardson and Family £460m (£460m)

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:21:00 GMT

The Richardson’s have been the big guns of Midland property development for many years.

17. (15) Freddie Linnett £450m (£450m)

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:19:00 GMT

Errand girl to multi-millionaire Freddie Linnett is a director and leading shareholder in the successful family-owned property company Charles Street Buildings (Leicester).

18. (17) Graham Whateley £425m (£425m)

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:16:00 GMT

The last year has continued to see growth in Graham Whateley’s assets thanks to good performances in his property development firm Castlemore Securities and his other business investments.