The Schroders family has shaved £1.2bn off their wealth over the last 12 months putting them among the biggest losers on the 2019 Sunday Times Rich List, which details the UK’s 1,000 wealthiest individuals and families.
The family behind the £556bn asset manager are still the wealthiest in the investment industry but now have £4bn in their bank account. The family has been in the spotlight in 2019, following the death of patriarch Bruno Schroder and the appointment of his daughter Leonie Schroder to the board of directors of the business, despite her lack of experience attracting criticism from proxy advisers.
Only steel magnate family the Mittals and chemicals billionaire Jim Ratcliffe lost more money than the Schroder family, suffering losses of £4bn and £2.9bn respectively. The Schroder family lost even more money than Topshop founder Philip Green after his net worth more than halved to £950m, bumping him out of the billionaire ranks.
Constituents of this year’s rich list needed at least £120m to make the cut, up from £115m last year. The Hinduja family, described by the Sunday Times as industrialists, topped this year’s list with £22bn.
Hargreaves Lansdown versus AJ Bell founders
Hargreaves Lansdown founder Peter Hargreaves also suffered a fall in wealth losing £118m, taking his total wealth to £3bn. The firm’s co-founder Stephen Lansdown saw his wealth unchanged at £1.7bn.
In contrast, AJ Bell founder Andy Bell enjoyed a £185m windfall in the year in which his investment platform went public. Bell rose over 300 spots in the Rich List rankings to 367th place with a total net worth of £360m.
AJ Bell stock rallied 34% when listed at 160p in December last year. Bell sold over 11 million shares at IPO pocketing £18.1m.
Net wealth of fund managers
Terry Smith was among the wealthiest fund managers listed on the Sunday Times ranking, while Neil Woodford continues to be absent from the Rich List.
Smith’s wealth climbed by a fifth to £300m in a year where his firm Fundsmith welcomed the largest UK-domiciled investment trust launch ever.
In contrast, the wealth of Jonathan Ruffer, chairman of the eponymous investment boutique, fell £274m, in part due to a charitable donation, and he now ranks 786 on the list, compared to 301 previously. His net worth currently stands at £151m.
Ruffer has been particularly bearish of late and recently revealed his firm holds £2.5bn in inflation-linked securities to prepare for a coming inflection point in markets.
Ashmore boss Mark Coombs also saw his wealth shift down over the year losing £62m, although that is small fry given his £1.5bn total net worth. Coombs faced a shareholder revolt in October as proxy advisers raised concerns that he and his spouse were gaining “creeping” control of the company via share buybacks.
