Lakshmi Mittal tops UK rich-list for 7th year

London, May 8
Indian-origin steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, with an estimated wealth of £17.51 billion, has retained his position as the richest person in the UK for the 7th year in a row in 2011. However, his wealth declined £4.93 billion during the last one year.
According to The Sunday Times Rich List 2011, Mittal's fortune has declined from £22.45 billion in 2010 to £17.51 billion in 2011 mainly because of plunging share prices in the past year, reducing the value of his stake in ArcelorMittal from £18.45 billion to £13.65 billion.
The 60-year-old chairman and chief executive of the world's largest steel producer, has urged governments to support greater growth after the global financial crisis hit demand, the report said.
Mittal’s fortune fell the most in absolute terms among those on the Rich list, but he still has the fastest growing fortune. Mittal, who has converted 1,500 tonnes of steel into an epic sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor at the Olympic Park in east London, wants to build a £30 million mansion in the Surrey green belt.
To secure a front-row-seat at the 2014 Ryder cup at Gleneagles, he is spending £15 million on a golfing bolt hole at the resort.
His main home is the house he bought from Bernie Ecclestone for £57 million in Kensington Palace Gardens, is handy for Queens Park Rangers in west London, in which the two tycoons have stakes.
Leading NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul has increased his wealth to £850 million- £300 million more than last year.
Paul's Caparo empire, ranging from car components to metals, has been restructured with its US and Indian arms set up as stand-alone operations. The revenues of the overall business reached 800million pounds last year.
The UK operation, based in London, had a tough 2009 but has returned to profit. The report said the Ambika Paul foundation, set up in memory of his daughter, who died of leukaemia, promotes the well-being of children. — PTI