Property boom pushes Reuben brothers to top of rich list
Booming property values have helped to bring a series of real estate billionaires up the roster of Britain’s richest people, replacing steel and mining magnates whose fortunes have shrunk in the commodities downturn.
David and Simon Reuben, Indian-born brothers whose property portfolio includes the Millbank Tower and dozens of West End properties, topped the Sunday Times Rich List for the first time this year with estimated wealth of £13.1bn.
The Reubens’ fortune increased by £3.4bn over the past year, said the compilers of the list, partly thanks to “hidden value” in their London portfolio, which they value internally at cost but whose potential sale values will have benefited from rocketing real estate prices in the capital.
The duo made their first fortunes trading aluminium in London, New York and Russia, but later built up their property interests; they also own stakes in the newly floated Metro Bank and in the data centre operator Global Switch.
As holders of the UK’s largest fortune, they replace Len Blavatnik, the Ukrainian-born magnate with interests in coal, aluminium and petrochemicals, whose wealth fell 12 per cent during the year to £11.6bn.
The Duke of Westminster, Gerald Grosvenor — owner of the Grosvenor Group, a private international property company — saw his fortune increase by £790m to £9.4bn, moving up to sixth place on the rich list from ninth. This was partly thanks to steep gains in the value of the company’s investment properties, which include swaths of Mayfair and Belgravia in central London.
But the duke’s company warned last week the property boom was probably drawing to a close. Nicholas Scarles, finance director, said “we continue to expect and plan for a slowdown, particularly in high-end commercial and residential property”.
Citing a December Bank of England report that said commercial West End property was overvalued by up to 30 per cent, he added: “There is a risk that sustained low oil prices could lead to sovereign wealth funds reducing investment in high-end commercial and residential property in London and elsewhere. Other major international property markets could be similarly affected. All of this points to a correction in the near future.”
Britain’s richest 10 people and families also include industrials, retailing and pharmaceuticals billionaires; the Hinduja brothers, Sri and Gopi, second on the list with £13bn, run an international conglomerate but have also bought the Old War Office in Whitehall for conversion to a luxury hotel.
The Barclay brothers, David and Frederick — property tycoons who also own Telegraph Media Group — moved up one spot to 13th as their fortune increased £500m to £7bn, partly thanks to the sale of stakes in three central London hotels, Claridge’s, the Berkeley and the Connaught, during 2015.
The Earl Cadogan, Charles Cadogan, was 16th with a £900m increase in his wealth to £5.7bn after steep increases in capital values and rents on about 200 London properties bought in 2014.
Among the relative losers were the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, chief executive of ArcelorMittal, and his family, whose fortune dropped by £2bn to £7.1bn over the past year thanks to a steel price crash. The Russian billionaire and Arsenal football club part-owner Alisher Usmanov shed £2.2bn from his wealth because of the mining downturn, landing at 7th place, down from 11th last year.