The discounters may be upstart challengers in the UK grocery fight, but the businessmen behind them are anything but when it comes to the personal fortunes they’ve amassed.
Aldi founder Karl Albrecht and Lidl owner Dieter Schwarz come behind only the Walton family - whose wealth has been created by the Walmart retail empire, including Asda in the UK, and stands at £89.6bn - in The Grocer’s first ever Rich List, introduced to showcase The Grocer’s enhanced finance coverage.
Albrecht and Schwarz boast fortunes of £15.7bn and £14.1bn respectively, driven by the explosion in discount retail in Europe since the global recession kicked in.
Collectively the 100 names on the list are worth some £168bn - a figure higher than the annual GDP of countries such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
The Grocer Rich List 2014 was compiled by The Sunday Times Rich List editor Philip Beresford. The Grocer’s list was selected on the basis of exposure to the UK food and drink sector past or present.
The first UK-born names on the list are Galen and George Weston in fourth place with a fortune of £7.3bn. Their wealth comes from a range of retail operations in Canada and Primark-owner ABF in the UK.
Other entrants include the Arora Brothers, whose B&M Bargains IPO values them at £1.65bn; and Malcolm and Duncan Mackinnon (£100m), whose Drambuie business is up for sale.
Read The Grocer 100 Rich List.
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