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Kamprad no longer Europe’s top tycoon: list

Malcolm Curtis
Malcolm Curtis - [email protected]
Kamprad no longer Europe’s top tycoon: list
Ingvar Kamprad. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

Ikea founder and Swiss resident Ingvar Kamprad was dislodged from his title of wealthiest person in Europe in a top 100 list published on Wednesday by business magazine Bilan that includes seven Swiss citizens or families.

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Kamprad, 87, who has announced that he plans to leave Switzerland to return to his native country Sweden later this year, is now ranked second in the list of tycoons, behind Amancio Ortega Gaona, Spanish founder of Zara, the textile giant.

Gaona’s fortune is estimated at 49.1 billion francs ($51.6 million), while Bilan calculates Kamprad’s assets at 44.6 billion francs.

The pair are ranked ahead of French tycoon Bernard Arnault, major shareholder in LVMH Möet Hennessy (29.8 billion francs) and Liliane Bettencourt, daughter of the founder of L’Oréal (28.5 billion francs).

Kamprad’s departure from his home near Lausanne at the end of the year will leave the Hoffmann and Oeri family, founders of the Roche pharmaceutical and chemical company, as the wealthiest Swiss on the list, ranking 15th Europe-wide, according to Bilan.

Other Swiss on the list include pharmaceutical company heir Ernesto Bertarelli (ranked 32nd with a fortune of 12.9 billion francs) and medical device entrepreneur Hansjörg Wyss (43rd, 11.6 billion francs).

More than a quarter (26) of Bilan’s list of Europe’s richest people live in Switzerland, including such luminaries as Jorge Paul Lemann, the Swiss-Brazilian brewery and food magnate, with estimated capital of 18.8 billion francs (ranked 12th in Europe).

The Indian Hindujah family, with bases in London and Geneva, is also ranked on the list, with a fortune estimated at 15.5 billion francs.
 

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