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And finally…Number of Scottish billionaires hits record high

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Trond-Mohn
Trond Mohn

Scotland now has a record nine billionaires - up from seven last year, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List.

The two latest mega rich tycoons living in Scotland or with substantial business interests here are Trond Mohn, the founder of a Norwegian pump firm and Alastair Salvesen, of the Christian Salvesen shipping empire.

Mohn, born in Buckie, Moray, and his sister Marit are worth £1.2 billion.

Salvesen is worth £1bn.

The Grant-Gordon whisky family tops the Scottish element of the list with a fortune of £2.15bn.

Mahdi al-Tajir, who owns Highland Spring, comes in second with £1.67bn, while oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood, took third with £1.385bn.

Others in the Scottish top ten include former Harrods owner Mohammed Al-Fayed, who owns an estate in Scotland and is worth £1.3bn, and the Thomson family, owners of publisher DC Thomson, who are worth £1.27bn.

Jim McColl, of Clyde Blowers, is worth £1.06bn while Sir Brian Souter and Ann Gloag, the siblings who founded the Stagecoach transport empire, share a £1.04bn fortune.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling is 14th equal with a £580 million fortune, according to the list.

RICHEST SCOTS

  1. The Grant-Gordon whisky family (£2.15bn)

  2. Mahdi al-Tajir, who owns Highland Spring (£1.67bn)

  3. Oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood (£1.385bn)

  4. Former Harrods owner Mohammed Al-Fayed (£1.3bn)

  5. Thomson family, owners of publisher DC Thomson (£1.27bn)

  6. Trond Mohn and his sister Marit (£1.2bn)

  7. Jim McColl, of Clyde Blowers (£1.06bn)

  8. Sir Brian Souter and Ann Gloag, the siblings who founded the Stagecoach transport empire (£1.04bn)

    9. London-based Ukrainian businessman Len Blavatnik, whose empire includes the Warner Music Group, was top of the list of 117 billionaires, which was up from 104 last year.

    The 117 account for a total wealth of £325.131bn and 80 of them are based in London.

    Mr Blavatnik moved ahead of last year’s chart toppers, brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja, despite their fortune rising by £1.1bn to £13bn.

    Galen and George Weston and family, who run a retail empire including Selfridges and Primark, enjoyed a particularly prosperous year, with their wealth soaring by £3.7bn to £11bn.

    This year’s list found the wealthiest 1,000 individuals and families now have a combined fortune of £547.126bn.

    The figure has more than doubled since a total of £249.615bn was recorded in 2005, despite the world economy being gripped by a punishing recession over much of the last decade.

    Millionaires increasingly struggle to count themselves among the mega-rich, with a fortune of £100m now required to make it into the top 1,000.

    UK’S RICHEST

    1. Len Blavatnik (£13.17 billion)

    2. Sri and Gopi Hinduja (£13 billion)

    3. Galen and George Weston and family (£11 billion)

    4. Alisher Usmanov (£9.8 billion)

    5. David and Simon Reuben (£9.7 billion)

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