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Report: Switzerland’s richest got even richer in 2017

The Local
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Report: Switzerland’s richest got even richer in 2017
Photo: Sebastian Derungs/AFP

This has been a good year for Switzerland’s 300 richest individuals who saw their collective wealth rise by 60 billion francs (61 billion dollars).

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According to the annual survey by business magazine Bilanz, the joint net worth of the super-rich was 674 billion francs.

Bilanz said the increase in wealth was thanks to a good stock market performance despite global jitters caused by the election of President Trump in the United States and concerns over Brexit.

Those with a fortune of 100 million francs or over are classed as super-rich, and in 2017 there were nine new entrants into this class.

Still leading the rankings of the wealthiest in Switzerland with assets of 48 to 49 billion francs was the Kamprad family, which owns Ikea.

Although 91-year-old founder Ingvar Kamprad no longer lives in Switzerland, his business interests are continued by his three sons.

In second place was the Brazilian-Swiss investor Jorge Lemann with 28 to 29 billion in assets.

The third position was taken by the Hoffmann-Oeri family, which founded and still controls the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, Roche.

New to the top 10 of the super-rich this year was the family of businessman and right-wing politician Christoph Blocher.

The Blochers saw their assets jump by four billion to 11-12 billion, according to the report.

The massive increase in their wealth is due to the rosy health of the Ems chemical concern that they own and which saw its value rise by one third over the year.

The youngest person to make the list was Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel who at 30 years of age has a personal fortune of 150-200 million francs.

The oldest was 95-year-old property tycoon Robert Heuberger.

The average wealth of the 300 richest individuals – 2.25 billion – has more than tripled over the past three decades.

If that figure was divided out among the Swiss population, each member would receive 80,200 francs.

Bilanz has been compiling its list of the super-rich since 1989. 

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