Lakshmi Mittal is doing what he does best. Making money.
For the third successive year, the Indian stell tycoon is top of a list of the super rich in Britain – who have also trebled their wealth during Tony Blair’s reign as Prime Minister.
Mittal’s own wealth galloped to £19.250 billion from £14.881 billion last year, increasing the distance between him and second placed Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich (£10.800 billion) by almost £480 million within a year. Mittal’s growing wealth has been attributed to his successful takeover of Arcelor.
He is also the richest among the 50 richest in Europe, while the Hinduja brothers are at number 25. Amonth the 50 richest in the world, Mukesh and Anil Ambani, with a wealth of £19.6 billion, come in at number five, followed by Mittal at number six. Predictably, the top two positions stayed with two familiar names – the Walton family (Wal-Mart) topping with £42.6 billion, followed by Bill Gates with £28.7 billion.