By IANS,
London : Indian steelmaker Laxmi Niwas Mittal remains Britain’s richest man, but is worth a massive 16.9 billion pounds less than last year, the Sunday Times Rich List said.
Mittal, who continues to hold an Indian passport, has sustained losses of more than three times the level of the Russian oil tycoon Roman Abramovich, his nearest rival as the year’s biggest losers, who was down 4.7 billion pounds to seven billion pounds.
Mittal owns the world’s biggest steel company, ArcelorMittal, whose shares took a pounding at the end of last year, but the businessman and his family are still worth 10.8 billion pounds.
“The steelmaker’s enormous fortune has taken a distinct dive,” said the Rich List.
“Stock market turmoil and fears of declining demand for steel have shrunk the value of the family stake in ArcelorMittal from a record 33 billion pounds last June to about 8.2 billion pounds.”
The Rich List added 2.6 billion pounds to the family’s stake in ArcelorMittal for dividends and property.
Mittal’s London homes are some of the most expensive in the world, including a mansion in Kensington Palace Gardens – Britain’s most expensive street – for which he paid a record 70 million pounds in 2004.
Other Indian or Indian-origin people to figure in the top 100 of the Rich List included mining major Vedanta Resources chief Anil Aggarwal (valued at 600 million pounds); Anurag Dikshit, who retains a stake in internet gambling website Party Gaming after quitting the board in 2006 (559 million pounds); the Jatania brothers, who own toiletry brands such as Yardley and Vosena (500 million pounds); and steelmaker Lord Swraj Paul and family (500 million pounds).