The Schroder family has seen its fortune grow by an eye-watering £1.2bn despite the hit from the coronavirus crisis, according to the Sunday Times 2021 Rich List, which also saw Hargreaves Lansdown’s co-founders adding to their personal wealth.
The list spotlighted a record number of 171 UK billionaires, 24 more than in 2020, despite the devastation brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Sunday Times, the combined fortunes of the billionaires in this year’s Rich List grew by nearly 22% to £597.3bn.
Fewer investment industry giants featured in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List, which was slimmed down from its usual 1,000 names to just 250 of Britain’s wealthiest individuals. This meant multi-millionaires such as Crispin Odey, Terry Smith and Jonathan Ruffer were left out, as was AJ Bell founder Andy Bell, who was one of the few in the industry to see his wealth climb in 2020.
However, Leonie Schroder (pictured), daughter of the late Bruno Schroder, and her family maintained their place in the rankings at number 35 with £5.2bn, up from £4bn last year.
The Schroder family has a 48% shareholding in Schroders, which saw assets under management hit a record high of £574.4bn in 2020 after attracting £42.5bn of net flows.
HL founders slide down rankings despite boosting fortunes
Also on the list were Hargreaves Lansdown co-founders Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown.
Hargreaves dropped 11 places in the rankings despite adding £10m to his fortune over the last 12 months. His net worth of £2.41bn remains unchanged from last year.
Meanwhile Lansdown’s wealth inched up from £1.35bn last year to £1.37bn, having personally enriched himself to the tune of £15m over the year. He has tumbled to 124 from 105 in the Rich List rankings.
Both British billionaires have been gradually cutting their stake in the D2C giant they helped found in 1981. Hargreaves currently owns a 19.8% stake worth £1.4bn in the Bristol-based company, after selling £300m worth of shares in February, while Lansdown has trimmed his position to 5.7%, having cashed in on the November vaccine rally.
Hedge funder Michael Platt sees personal wealth skyrocket
The wealthiest entry on the Rich List from the investment industry was hedge funder and Bluecrest Capital Management co-founder Michael Platt who jumped six spots on the list to 18th.
The managing director of Europe’s third-largest hedge fund firm has seen his net worth skyrocket from £4.9bn in 2020 to £8bn in 2021 following a bumper year for his flagship hedge fund which generated 95% returns in 2020, according to Bloomberg, its best year since it stopped managing money for outside clients in 2015.
However the Securities and Exchange Commission forced Platt’s firm to pay up $170m in December last year after allegations that it misled clients regarding its flagship Bluecrest Capital International fund as it replaced traders with an underperforming algorithm.
Ashmore CEO Mark Coombs also featured on the pared down list, with the Sunday Times pegging his net worth at £1.57bn.
Coombs sold a substantial £20m stake in the emerging market specialist this month after the company reported a drop in assets under management of $3.1bn (£2.2bn) in the quarter ended 31 March, with net inflows of $1.5bn (£106bn) offset by negative investment performance of $4.6bn (£3.2b)n as emerging markets continue to grapple with the pandemic.
Other financial giants included in the list were Stonehage Fleming chair, Adam Fleming and his family, who ranked 106th and Lord Rothschild and his family, who came in at 161st. Fleming has a net worth of £1.53bn, while Rothschild, chair of the RIT Capital Partners and J Rothschild Capital Management, has a fortune of £1.05bn.
