Kent's De Haan brothers slip in rich list with £800m wealth

Businessman Roger De Haan
Businessman Roger De Haan

by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Kent brothers Roger and Peter De Haan are featured twice in the latest survey of the nation's wealthiest people.

The duo - who made their fortune from the sale of Folkestone-based Saga, the over-50s financial services and holiday group - are ranked 110th in the Sunday Times Rich List.

Although their wealth is estimated at £800million, the same as last year, the brothers slip from 92nd place in 2012.

Through a charitable foundation, they have invested substantial sums in their home town of Folkestone - including the Creative Quarter, its port, Seven Hills Sports Ground as well as various education and regeneration projects.

Their generosity has placed the De Haan brothers (Roger pictured right) them 43rd in the Sunday Times Giving List, with donations amounting to £16m.

Moni Varma, founder of Veetee Rice, based on Medway City Estate, has leapt up the table from 908th (£80m) to 373rd (£212m), largely on the strength of his stated intention to float the company for a possible £200m.

Dartford-born Rolling Stone Sir Mick Jagger climbs seven places from 395th (£190m) to 387th (£200m), largely due to substantial receipts from touring. The band is appearing at Glastonbury this year.

In a list dominated at the top by Russian oligarchs - Alisher Usmanov, who owns 9% of Arsenal Football Club, tops the list with £13.3bn for his mining and investment interests - the Queen is at 268 (£320m), down six places, although her fortune rose by £10m.

The Duke of Westminster is the highest-ranked Briton at 8th with estimated wealth from his property portfolio of £7.8bn, up £450m.

Philip Beresford, compiler of the 25th anniversary list, said: "Britain is now the home of nearly 10 times as many billionaires as we featured in the first Sunday Times Rich List published in 1989.

"Their collective wealth and that of all this year's 1,000 richest has now reached £450bn, the highest on record."

He added that while the rest of the country had struggled under a double dip recession, the richest 1,000 had added £35.4bn to their wealth.

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