....and yet again, I'm not on it!!
There are the usual suspects like Mittal, Abramovich, and Westminster etc...
Next in the list is Hans Rausing & family - I've wondered why the last couple of years the list hasn't combined the Hans Rausing [£4,950m] & Kirsten\Jorg Rausing parts together. Kirsten & Jorg are the niece & nephew of Hans & inherited a significant sum upon the death of their father - Gad, to which they have added & now are worth an estimated £2,490m.
This totals £7,440m - which would make them 3rd in the list, leapfrogging The Duke of Westminster [£6,600m] currently ahead of Hans Rausing in 4th with the above mentioned £4,950m. All of the wealth stems from an original idea from Gad & Hans father who invented the milk carton we all use today
From my own personal interest viewpoint, which is helicopters - the list gives me an insight to the world of the super rich who own fabulous corporate helicopters based in the UK.
Moving through the top 5 of the list, #1 Mittal has an EC.155 & is rumoured to be getting a couple of AS.365's soon, #2 Abramovich gets shuttled around in his own fleet of EC.155 LX-HEC, EC.145 P4-LGB & EC.135 P4-XTC, at #3 the Duke of Westminster used to have his own AS.355, G-TALI & G-TALY, but I think nowadays charters something in if necessary. At #4 the Hans part of the Rausing family I don't think have ever had any aviation involvement. Philip Green at #5 is photographed with wife Tina stepping out of another EC.155 3A-MAG at Monaco heliport which he probably charters when hopping from Nice in his Gulfstream jet.
There are numerous more down the list including those who self-fly such as John Caudwell with his own Robinson R44 G-BZOP, given his wealth (estimated at £1,600m) and his liking for fast cars (he was featured on TV last year looking at different supercars including a Pagani Zonda), this R44 must surely be up for replacement soon with a more corporate ship like an Agusta A109 Grand or Eurocopter As355N or something?
There are names that I would suspect should be on the list that are not, maybe they have requested not to be featured (unlikely that the editor of the Rich List - Philip Beresford would consent to omit them by choice?) or they have been very clever in keeping their wealth under wraps, which is the more likely scenario.
Some examples - the ex owner of this MD520 Notar G-SIVN is rumoured to be one of the many Goldman Sachs staff that made millions from the 1999 float of the business, he has had a sucession of expensive aircraft with the G-SIV being a recurrent theme, all of these would indicate serious wealth. There is a separate panel on page 53 on the "Goldman Sachs millionaires" listing 15 of them all worth more than £80m, so he may slip in under £60m threshold for this years list?
Where is Wafic Said? He is not on the list, but has a huge classic estate Tusmore Park in Oxfordshire is worth £30m alone!? He also has a very nice Bell 430 VP-BKQ and has been linked by all sorts of publications to the multi billion dollar Al Yamamah arms deal. In 1996 he donated £20 million to establish the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford.
Dr Jonathan Palmer has a very tidy AS.355N G-JPAL and has an Agusta A109 Grand on order apparently, his business - PalmerSport at Bedford Autodrome must be worth a pretty tidy sum by now? As he started the business, he probably owns the majority of it, he should surely be on the list?
Paul Beck has recently bought 3 Agusta A109's, G-OBEK, G-PBEK & G-HBEK, he retains 2 of them. The company he is Chief Executive of - LBM, provides data & data marketing - junk mail to you and me. Once again, if he has a significant holding in the company he co-founded, he should be close to the list in some way?
2 comments:
Wow - that EC.155 is a very ugly helo. What is going on with that little piggy nose?
Mr Ports - the nose is very ugly on the EC.155, the older style AS365 is nicer. I think there are various options available in the nose space of the EC.155 available - it can be fitted with some radar for weather or safety (TCAS - as on airliners) I think?
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