LONDON: Two Pakistani-origin British nationals with net worth of onebillion pounds are in the Sunday Times rich list 2018.
Gujar Khan-born Sir Anwar Pervez is the first Pakistan-born Britishnational on the list with a net worth of 3.09 billion pounds. Although thefortunes of Sir Pervez rose by £145 million during the year, his rank onthe Sunday Times list fell from 40th to 43rd.
On the list, British chemical tycoon Jim Ratcliffe is at the top with a networth of over 21 billion pounds.ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER ADGujar Khan-born businessman ranked 43rd on Sunday Times rich list 2018
The rise of Sir Anwar Pervez is considered among the most inspiringrags-to-riches stories in the UK. After arriving in the UK at the age of 21and settling down in Bradford, he like many other economic migrants didsome menial jobs. Later, he set up a convenience store in west London withhis savings. In 1976, he set up a warehouse in Acton area of west Londonalong with three other friends and relatives with very small seed money.
The company then named Bestway now stands as a strong business group withstakes from cash-and-carry to pharmacy. The Bestway Group now trades frommore than 60 warehouses under its own name and the Batleys brand, which itacquired, enjoying an 18 per cent market share in the grocery wholesalesector, where it supplies to about 100,000 retailers.
After restricting itself within cash and carry sector under its own brandfor a long time, Bestway Group has lately started expanding. In April thisyear it bought Bargain Booze, Britain’s largest off-licence chain with 611shops, for £7m. It had already acquired the Co-operative, Britain’s thirdlargest chain of chemist shops and running it as the Well Pharmacy group.In Pakistan, it launched Bestway Cement, which in 23 years has become thecountry’s second-largest producer, with significant exports to Afghanistan.
Bestway Group has a controlling share of United Bank Limited. There aresubsidiaries in the UK, the Middle East and Switzerland.
The family of Zameer Chaudrey, the chief executive and co-founder of theBestway Group and a nephew of Sir Anwar Pervez, is the second BritishPakistani on the list with a net worth of £1.2 billion.
Other notable Pakistan-born British nationals on Sunday Times rich list areAbdul Khalique Bhatti and Adalat Chaudhry, who were also co-founders of theBestway Group with Sir Anwar Pervez with net worth of £540 million each.
Younus Sheikh, a non-executive member of the Bestway board, is also on therich list with a net fortune of £420 million.
Glasgow-based businessman Tarak Ramzan is another Pakistani-bornpersonality on the Sunday Times rich list with a net fortune of 166 millionpounds. Ramzan was said to be just 18 when he was handed the keys of hisfather’s modest Glasgow clothing factory after the old man decided toretire to his native Pakistan. His father had arrived in Scotland in 1947with £5 in his pocket.
Ramzan began building clothes manufacturing business to employ about 200staff at the peak, before switching to retail and opening his first Quizstore in Glasgow in 1994. In 2009, part of the operation collapsed intoadministration but Ramzan bought back many of the stores and today the Quizempire spans 19 countries.
The Goldsmith family of Jemima Khan, the ex-wife of PakistanTehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, is also on the list with a net worthof £283 million.
According to Sunday Times, Zac Goldsmith, Lady Annabel Goldsmith and familyinherited a quarter of Sir James Goldsmith’s wealth that stood at £1.2billion when he died in 1997.
Another important name on the rich list is that of the former Qatari primeminister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, whose letter was produced byformer premier Nawaz Sharif in his defence before the Supreme Court in thePanama Papers case. With a net worth of £2 billion, Al Thani ranked at 66thon the list. Sandhurst-educated Al Thani, 58, is said to be the chiefexecutive of the Qatar Investment Authority, managing billions of dollarsfor the Gulf state, where he served as prime minister from 2007 to 2013.