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Kamprad family tops list of richest Swiss

Malcolm Curtis
Malcolm Curtis - [email protected]
Kamprad family tops list of richest Swiss
Ingvar Kamprad: gone but not forgotten. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea, may be giving up his official Swiss residence this year but his family still tops a list of the 300 wealthiest people in Switzerland for 2013 with a fortune estimated at 41-42 billion francs ($45-46 billion).

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The Bilan Swiss business magazine, which compiles the list, notes in this week’s edition that Kamprad’s three sons are all Swiss citizens so the publication is continuing to keep the family on it.

Peter, 49, Jonas, 47, and Mathias, 44, have Swiss passports, so even if their 87-year-old father decided to spend his last days in Sweden following the death of his wife, “Bilan continues to keep this family on the list”, the magazine’s Serge Guertchakoff told Le Matin.

The magazine estimates that the family’s fortune increased by about three billion francs from the previous year, thanks to increased revenues from the Swedish furniture chain.

Ikea has always disputed Bilan's assessments of Kamprad's fortune, with differences in interpretation over what assets he owns and what he controls. 

In September, a Swedish book reported that the tycoon was at loggerheads with his sons over the family fortune.

The book claimed the three sons hired a star lawyer from the US to take on their 87-year-old father, a resident of Lausanne who declared earlier this year that he would be leaving Switzerland to return to his homeland after 40 years away.

Heirs to the Hoffmann and Oeri families who founded and built the Roche pharmacautical empire come second on Bilan's list with assets of 22 to 23 million francs.

That’s up by six million francs from 2012 due to rising shares in the company they control more than half of.

Ranking third on the list is Jorge Lemann, a Brazilian-Swiss businessman, with an estimated fortune of between 20 million and 21 million francs.

Lemann is known for owning Heinz, the American food brand, as well as shares in in Burger King and Anheuser-Busch InBev.

The wealth of Switzerland’s 300 richest citizens grew by 12 percent over 2012 to reach 627 billion francs this year, Bilan says.

The magazine found that 21.2 percent of of the superrich families and individuals saw their incomes jump higher while only 3.5 percent saw their assets fall, Bilan said.  

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