Sunday Times Rich List: Richest Cypriots and Greeks in the UK

Sunday Times Rich list 2013 is out. 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 Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou at number 43 with a a value of 1.7 Billion. Stelios at 46 years old has threatened to sell his family’s near 37% stake in the Easy Jet budget airline if the board continues to squander cash on new aircraft with an expansion at any cost policy. The Cypriot entrepreneur founded the company in 1995 with two leased aircraft and a £5m loan from his shipping magnate father.

Haji-Ioannou spends most of his time running the other businesses in his Easy group , which are in travel, leisure, hotel and office accommodation. Easy Jets shares have surged in the past year and the Haji-Ioannou family stake is worth £1.5bn.

The second  richest Cypriot in the List is Alki David (pictured below) at number 53 valued at £1,490 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 it recently launched 500 new channels. 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. This drinks company is quoted as the Coca Cola Hellenic and its shares have sored recently and it is valoued at about £6.5 Billion with the family stake worh £1.48 Billion. David is putting £30 m into FilmOn expansion and owns 11 properties worldwide.

Third richest Cypriot at 101 position is property Entrpreneur Chris Lazaris from Dora in Cyprus who has a blue chip London based property portfolio with a fortune of £858 million. 66 year old Lazari (Photo below) came to Britain in the 1970’s to work in fashion then moved into property.

A new entry at position 134 valued at £678 million 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 243 at a value of £365 million. 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.

Andreas Panayiotou Pictured above

Former 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 recently bought the Robert Dyas chain. He also has commercial properties all round the UK. Is worth £180m and is placed at 434.

 Theo Paphitis pictured above

In position 572 Stelio Stefanou born in Egypt parents from Ktima and Peyia in Cyprus came to England and studied and remained here and built up the Accord maintenance which was sold for £180 million in year 2007. He runs his Hertfordshire based Stefanou foundation charity and the times value him at £140 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. The Times rock expert keeps Michael at £105m on the back of his enduring appeal for tours, his previous relentless touring and his back catalogue. He completed his Symphonica tour last year grossing $23.4m from 22 shows.

George Michael Above

At spot 970 we have 71 year old Panicos Panayi from Kato Drys in Cyprus worth £75 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 £8.8 billion.

Greeks From Greece we have Aristotelis Mistakidis in position 46 valued at £1.5 billion works in commodities at Glencore. He is chairman of several of Glencores mining companies. Coming in at 149 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 281 and 387 and are valued at £330 and £200 million respectively.

At 387 is John Goulandris from the Greek shipping family at £200 million

At spot 348 and 434  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.

At position 929 with a value of £81 million Greek Theo Karpathios 49 years old was a director of Cheltenham based Supergroup until he left last august. He retains a £73 million stake and share sales at the 2010 flotation add to his wealth.