Sunday Times Rich list 2012 is out today, the rich list compiled by Philip Beresford shows several Cypriots and Greeks in the wealthiest of the UK.
The richest Cypriot in the List is Alki David (pictured above) valued at £1,100 million one of our two Billionaires , he was born In Nigeria his parents from Cyprus and lives here in the UK. David offered $1m to anyone who was foolhardy enough to streak in front of President Obama last year. He was taken up on his challenge by a Philadelphia man. There was some dispute over whether the President had seen him but David apparently settled for a $100,000 payout. David, who has appeared as heavies and the like in films or TV series in Britain, runs FilmOn, a patented live-streaming Internet business, allowing access to live HDTV streaming via PCs, televisions and cell phones. London-based FilmOn listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange in February 2009 valued at £587m. David had a controlling 80% stake. David is a member of the prominent Cypriot Leventis family. His late father, Andrew A David, was the managing director of the Leventis-David group, a family business which owns bottling plants for Coca-Cola in 28 countries. Second Richest is Easy Jet founderSir Stelios Haji –Ioannou (Photo below) at number 72 with a value of £1,015 million.
Third richest Cypriot is property Entrpreneur Chris Lazaris from Dora in Cyprus who has a blue chip London based property portfolio with a fortune of £730 million. A new entry at position 123 is Nicosia born John Christodoulou who came to the UK after the Cyprus Turkish invasion is the second largest freeholder in Canary Wharf he also has 2,000 residential and commercial freehold units in Central London other interests include Brazilian land , New York apartments, Manchester’s Hilton Tower and Liverpool Radison Blu hotels. In position 218 we have London Cypriot Andreas Panayiotou whose parents come from Klonari,Limassol and Kalo Chorio in Larnaca. He is valued at £400 million. He opened hotel opened a new hotel at West London’s Syon Park. The £60m development on the Duke of Northumberland’s London acreage has been built by Andreas Panayiotou’s Ability Group. Operating under Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria name, it takes Ability’s hotel portfolio to seven worth £330m.. He plans to develop a number of other Hilton brands in the UK and Europe, with the intention of amassing a portfolio of over 40 hotel properties . The total value of Panayiotou’s assets must be near £1 billion.
Andy Panayiotou Pictured above
London Cypriot Dionysius Liveras comes in at spot 370 with a value of £215 million .Dionysius the son of businessman Andreas Liveras was murdered by the terrorists attacking Mumbai in November 2008. Liveras came from his native Cyprus in 1963 ,and started work as a salesman and bakery deliveryman for a patisserie in London. Within five years he had bought the company. It was sold to GrandMet in 1985 for £10m. The Liveras family, led by his son Dionysios, went back into the Quality gateaux market in 1992 with the launch of Laurens Patisseries in Nottinghamshire. The business was taken over for £130m in 2006. The family had also built a successful yacht charter business called Liveras Yachts.
Dragon’s Den star Theo Paphitis was born in Limassol, in Cyprus, in 1959 and came here aged six with his parents. He went to the local comprehensive in North London, where they failed to detect his dyslexia but did let him run the school tuck shop. His first job, when he left at 16, was helping make the tea at a Lloyd’s insurer. He revived stricken brands such as Ryman, the stationer and the Contessa lingerie chain as well as La Senza. The latter was sold in 2004 netting Paphitis around £100m for his stake. He still owns a majority stake in the Ryman stationery chain which is worth £100 million .He also has commercial properties all round the UK. Is worth £180m and is placed at 417.
Theo Paphitis pictured above
Stef and Stelio Stefanou born in Egypt parents from Ktima and Peyia in Cyprus , came to England and studied and remained here and built up the John Doyle construction firm and Accord maintenance which was sold for £180 million in year 2007 they are at spot 537 valued at £140 million.
We also have young 31 year old Andrew Michael internet entrepreneur who runs Livedrive which allows storage of files and documents . He made his first fortune with Fasthosts internet provider. He is at position 569 worth £130 million.
At Spot 751 we have George Michael the son of a Greek Cypriot businessman, Michael rose to prominence as a member of Wham from 1982 to 1986. Our rock expert keeps Michael at £100m on the back of his enduring appeal for tours, his previous relentless touring and his back catalogue. After falling ill he is resuming his 2011?12 tour . His companies have paid him £42 m since 1987.
George Michael Above
At spot 869 Cypriot Paris Natar The Gardman garden products business goes from strength to strength. The Lincolnshire-based operation is one of the largest European suppliers of garden products and also has operating subsidiaries in the USA and Australia. It also exports to more than 40 countries around the world. In 2010/11 saw profits fall to £5.8 million. As founder of the group, he has finally stepped back from day-today control and become a non-executive director.
At spot 984 we Have Panicos Panayi from Kato Drys in Cyprus worth £74 million sold Manchester based Buckingham Bingo in 2005 for £90 million.
We also have John Fredriksen Shipping Billionaire said to be the World’s biggest tanker operator in the list . A Norwegian by birth and holds a Cypriot Citizenship since Norway tightened the Tax regime. He is the ninth richest person in the UK worth £6.6 billion.
Greeks From Greece we have Aristotelis Mistakidis in position 38 valued at £1.7 billion works in commodities at Glencore. He is chairman of several of Glencores mining companies. Coming in at 138 spot is Michael Lemos from the well known Greek shipping family who is worth £605 million.
Sir John Zochonis and Anthony Green also from the Greek Zochonis Family who produce branded soaps are placed 289 and 441 and are valued at £274 and £170 million respectively.
At 370 is John Goulandris from the Greek shipping family at £200 million
At spot 329 and 417 at the value of £230 and £180 we have Greeks Chris Rokos and Trifon Natsis respectively Who set up the Brevan Howard hedge Fund with two other traders . It is one of Europe’s top operations managing funds worth about £22 billion
