The region’s rich are getting richer it has been revealed and quite a few of them are connected to Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull.

The annual barometer of the region’s wealth - the Birmingham Post Rich List - has been published detailing the 50 wealthiest people in the Midlands.

The 2019 Rich Lists reveals the 50 wealthiest people in the region and this year’s combined wealth total is £37 billion – a massive £9 billion more than last year.

The entry price for making the list has also risen this year.

Entrants need a personal fortune of at least £115 million to qualify for a place, beating last year’s total of £100 million.

The region’s billionaire club has grown by two in the last 12 months – and now features 10 tycoons – with the number one spot being taken by new entrant Aston Villa co-investor Nassef Sawiris.

The Egyptian businessman’s £5.2 billion wealth makes him the richest man in the Midlands - ever.

Sawiris, also estimated to be the fourth richest man in Africa, has taken the top slot from Wolves owner Guo Guangchang who was placed number one in 2017 and 2018.

Guangchang is now placed at number three, with a fortune of £4.2 billion.

The Birmingham Post Rich List is geographically focussed on the area covered by three local enterprise partnerships: the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP, the Black Country LEP and the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP.

The 50 multi-millionaires on the 2018 list all either live, work or make a significant economic or cultural contribution to the areas covered by the three LEPs.

John Bloor
John Bloor

 

6. John Bloor (Bloor Homes/Triumph) - £1.85 billion - manufacturing/construction

2018 No 5 £1.45bn

Originally from Derbyshire, Mr Bloor’s connections to Coventry are via Triumph Motorcycles.

He revived the historic Coventry marque, which is now based in Hinckley, but the main thrust of his business activity is in housebuilding.

A buoyant housing market, rising values and low interest rates have resulted in growing profits to more than £185 million, and a turnover of £1.44 billion for Bloor Homes.

Triumph Motorcycles made a profit despite challenging market conditions.

It continues to invest heavily in new models and export performance remains strong, with production facilities and distribution networks in Brazil and India delivering an important contribution.

Triumph Motorcycles has a factory in Brazil as well as three factories in Thailand and one in India.

A Derbyshire-born miner’s son, Mr Bloor, 73, a former plasterer, bought the collapsed Triumph for £150,000 in 1983 and the brand displayed the first products from its new Hinckley factory in 1990.

He has poured more than £80 million into rebuilding the 100 year-old brand, which started out in Coventry before moving to Meriden.

Lord Edmiston
Lord Edmiston

 

10. Lord Edmiston (IM Group) - £1 billion - property/automotive

2018 No 7= £1.0bn

The IM Group’s offices in Coleshill have been acquired by HS2 to make way for the London to Birmingham high speed line, so they are moving to Solihull.

The company – made of the property company IM Properties and the International Motors automotive franchises – has net assets of close to £630 million and a string of landmark sites, including Blythe Valley Business Park.

Lord Edmiston was made a Conservative life peer in 2011 but quit the House of Lords in 2015 to spend more time on his charity work.

CGI of plans for IM Group's new head office on the Fore Business Park in Solihull
CGI of plans for IM Group's new head office on the Fore Business Park in Solihull

He is one of the UK’s biggest philanthropic donors and wants to devote more of his time to religious and educational charities.

He set up Christian Vision in 1988, a worldwide charity aiming to help a billion people.

A former finance director at the failed Jensen Motors, Lord Edmiston used his £6000 redundancy pay to set up International Motors in 1974.

He began as the world’s only distributor for Jensen parts before acquiring the franchises for Subaru, Isuzu and Daihatsu.

Sir Peter Rigby
Sir Peter Rigby

 

11. Sir Peter Rigby (Rigby Group) - £950 million - IT/aerospace

2018 No 9 £620m

Revenues at the Rigby Group have increased by nearly 10 per cent with profits higher than at any time in its 43 year history.

The diversified Stratford-upon-Avon based company is seeing across-the-board success in its six divisions of technology, airports, hotels, real estate, aviation and financial services.

The airports division owns Bournemouth, Coventry, Exeter and Norwich airports and runs  XLR Executive Jet Centres at Birmingham, Exeter and Liverpool.

The business has nine hotels under the Eden Hotel Collection brand, including Brockencote Hall in Worcestershire and Bovey Castle in Dartmoor.

Its subsidiary, British International Helicopters, is operating search and rescue services in the Falkland Islands for the Ministry of Defence.

Liverpool-born Sir Peter, aged 75, founded the company in 1975 with just £2,000 in cash.

A qualified fixed wing and helicopter pilot, Sir Peter devotes much of his time and money to charity.

The Rigby Foundation Charitable Trust supports child related causes and children’s hospices. Sir Peter was knighted in the Queens Jubilee Honours for his contribution to information technology and business.

 

12. Tony Gallagher (Gallagher Developments) - £925 million - construction

2018  No 9 £900m

Warwickshire-based Tony Gallagher, aged 67, is busy building up a £1 billion private rented sector portfolio in London and other major cities.

He’s not short of the cash to do it, having pocketed £525 million from the sale of Gallagher Estates in 2017.

The sale did not include his retail and property investment and development business – Warwick-based Gallagher Developments – which continues to acquire and develop prime commercial land, and develop land in Wednesbury.

Mr Gallagher is the son of Irish immigrants from Mayo and Cavan, whose father JJ Gallagher lived on the outskirts of Birmingham and was a construction entrepreneur.

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He has spent more than three decades accumulating land and property assets ranging from retail parks, housing plots and industrial sites.

The result is a vast land bank under development throughout the UK, as well as a large retail park investment portfolio.

His retail park portfolio, including one in Coventry, covers more than 3m sq ft spread across sites in England, Scotland and Wales.

A flagship development from Gallagher Developments is the Warwick Gates Business Park which offers business properties and offices of all sizes, complete with lake and tree-lined boulevards.

 

18. Thomas Hartland-Mackie and family (CEF) - £470 million - electricals

2018 No 16 £455m

City Electrical Factors Holdings Ltd (CEF), based in Kenilworth, has customers around the world and is the UK’s leading electrical wholesale network.

Thomas Mackie, an ex-GEC employee and former Royal Air Force radio operator, founded the business with just one outlet in Coventry 1951.

He died in January 2012 aged 89. His son, Thomas Hartland-Mackie now runs the company.

Dean Hoyle, Chairman of The Works

 

20. Dean Hoyle (The Works) - £310 million - stationery

2018 No 20 £290m

Dean Hoyle’s Hams Hall-based stationery business The Works floated on the London Stock Exchange in the summer in a listing which valued the business at £100 million.

Leeds-based private equity house Endless which has backed the company since 2008 was bought out with some of the proceeds of the listing. Dean Hoyle remains a director.

The grand exterior of Ettington Park Hotel
The grand exterior of Ettington Park Hotel

 

22. Julia and Guy Hands (Hand Picked Hotels) - £265 million - hotels

2018 No 21 £265m

Julia and Guy Hands own a collection of 20 four-star country hotels around the UK, including the neo-Gothic Ettington Park near Stratford-upon-Avon.

Others include the late-medieval New Hall hotel in Sutton Coldfield and the 16th century Stanbrook Abbey Hotel in Callow End, Worcester.

Established in 2001 the group has won the AA Hotel Group of the Year award twice.

Paul Newey

 

24. Paul Newey (Ocean Finance) - £240 million - finance

2018 No 22 £240m

Semi-professional poker player Paul Newey didn’t need a big win to make his fortune.

He did that when he sold Ocean Finance – the Tamworth debt consolidation business he founded in 1991 – for £200 million.

He is now chairman of London-based New Wave ventures, which has net assets of £22 millon and investments which include Aeristech, a Kenilworth-based engine turbo-charger company.

Keith Bradshaw
Keith Bradshaw

 

27. Keith Bradshaw (Listers) - £220 million - care homes/automotive

2018 No 25= £215m

Co-founded the Listers car dealership with business partner Terry Lister (No 44=) 39 years ago.

Since then it has grown into England’s largest independent dealer group.

The Stratford-upon-Avon-based company makes good profits boosted by its expanding portfolio of dealerships across the Midlands, East Anglia and the north of England.

 

31= Michael and Kenny Bruce Purplebricks - £190million - estate agency

Shirley-based Purplebricks.com is probably the best-known property seller in the UK, thanks to an intensive TV advertising campaign.

Since it appeared seven years ago, Purplebricks has torn up the estate agency template. Instead of commission, sellers pay a flat fee to list their property on the Purplebricks web site following a local valuation.

The disruptive idea is the brainchild of bothers Michael Bruce, 45, and Kenny Bruce, 43.

It has proved a very successful concept, and is now being rolled out overseas. An Australian operation has been opened and expanded, as well as launches on the east and west coasts of the United States.

A Canadian operation has resulted from the acquisition of leading Canadian digital real estate brand DuProprio.

Anthony Coombs
Anthony Coombs

 

33= Anthony and Graham Coombs and family (S&U) - £185 million - finance

2018 23= £160m

Twins Anthony and Graham Coombs and their families have a 52 per cent stake in S&U, the Solihull credit business founded in Birmingham before the war by Welshman Clifford Coombs.

Terry Lister
Terry Lister

 

 

44= Terry Lister (Listers) - £128 million - automotive

2018 No 41 £130m

Terry Lister co-founded the Listers car dealership in Coventry with business partner Keith Bradshaw (No 27) in 1979.

Forty years later it is England’s largest independent dealer group.

Terry, aged 76, is 50 per cent owner of the Listers.

Dr Dallas Burston
Dr Dallas Burston

48= Dallas Burston (Stoneythorpe Estate) - £120million - pharmaceuticals/events

2018 No 44= £120m

Dr Dallas Burston is passionate about polo, and his 600-acre Dallas Burston Polo Club in Warwickshire is one of the leading venues for the sport in the UK.

The Southam-based club has been undergoing a £122 million investment programme.

Dr Dallas Burston - a former GP -  made his fortune by building up and selling pharmaceutical operations.

You can see the full 2019 Birmingham Post Rich List here.

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